


Ghost of the Placaton

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Cruise Ships, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Ghosts, Jealousy, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-03 20:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11539953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: Rose insists that the Doctor take her to see a strange Bermuda-Triangle like phenomena that hints at ghosts.  Despite his reluctance, he takes her on the cruise that passes through it, still not believing in ghosts, until, perhaps, he does.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a new story for you guys! I hope you all enjoy this first chapter, feedback is greatly appreciated!

“You told me ghosts aren’t real.”

Rose crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the Doctor from the entry to the console room, her shoulder leaned against the wall.

He glanced at her briefly, surprised at her words.  “They aren’t.”  He told her.

“Then why do I keep reading stuff in history and travel books in the TARDIS library about ghosts?” Rose asked.

“You’ve been reading?” He teased her, smiling a little.

“Don’t change the subject,’ she laughed good naturedly, “Come on, I’m serious, there’s all this stuff about ghosts, and I want to know exactly what’s going on here.  The unexplained, and all that.” She waved her hand vaguely.

The Doctor leaned back against the console and crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her.  “Hm,” he said thoughtfully, tilting his chin up, “Good question, the unexplained.  Not a lot known about it, really.  Scientists will ponder so many parts of the world that they don’t even know what’s unknown!  Nothing is the same in two planets, not really.”

“That’s why it’s unexplained.” Rose said bluntly.

“Ah. Right.”  

The two of them stood in a deadlock for a few moments and then they both started laughing, almost doubled over with laughter after such a weird silence.  Rose approached him and threw herself into the jumpseat.  

“So are you going to tell me what to do about it?” Rose asked, kicking her legs, “Are you going to take me to some ghosts?”  She asked eagerly, her excitement ratcheting up the longer she thought about it.  She had a feeling that this wouldn’t be anything like the Gelth, as it was something that was  _ known,  _ by people in the area, as opposed to a historical anomaly.  

He sighed.  “Rose, I’m telling you, there are no ghosts,” he groaned, running his hand through her hair.  She was a bit stubborn at times, and he had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be anything different.

Rose laughed.  “There could be ghosts, and maybe you just haven’t seen any because they’re-” she wiggled her fingers at him, “Unexplained.”

“Ha!” The Doctor shook his head. “You don’t know that at all. You don’t know that!”

“And neither do you.”

“You’re killing me, Rose.”

“I am not, you’re just being difficult,” she said. “I know!  I read in this book about something like the Bermuda Triangle, but it’s not in this galaxy,” she kicked her feet again.  “And there’s this really big speculation that ghosts take the people that disappear.  Whole boats are disappearing!  It’s absolutely bonkers.”

“Bonkers?”

She gave him a look.  “Oh, so that’s the word you take from that?”

The Doctor chuckled.  “Yes, it is,” he said, “Rose, there are no ghosts. There just aren’t. So I need you to let it go.”

“No.”

He raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re serious. You want to look for ghosts.”

“This kind of ghosts specifically,” Rose said, “Do you know what I’m talking about?” She asked.  

“I have heard of it,” he said slowly, “I am aware of it,” he said, feeling a bit odd about it all.  He didn’t like to take Rose straight into danger. He really preferred that danger just stumbled across them.  But it didn’t seem like that was going to happen today, just because she was pushing it so hard.  And it was very hard for him to refuse Rose Tyler when she wanted something from him.  It was very clear that she wanted something from him.

He sighed and walked over to her, shoving his hands in his pockets, looking down at her.  “I know where it is.  And you’re saying you want to go on a boat and supposedly get sucked into a Bermuda Triangle?”

She nodded. “There could be people that need help there, Doctor, on the other side of whatever is happening there.”  She chewed her bottom lip as she looked up at him. “Can you imagine, being on the other side of that and not knowing what to do, being stuck, and not seeing any of your family for God knows how long?”

He regarded her carefully and smiled softly. “You never do anything for yourself, do you?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Here I thought you just wanted to see some weird phenomena, but really, you just want to help people that might be in trouble. You don’t even know that people are in trouble and you want to rescue them.”

Rose smiled a little and shrugged her shoulders. “I think that if we have a TARDIS at our disposal, and time and space, seeking out people to help would be… I don’t know, a really good use of our time.”

“Are you saying this so that we go and I give in to you?”

She let out a laugh. “Nah, I don’t need to pull sympathy cards to get you to take me somewhere.”

He laughed as well, realizing that she probably knew him better than he thought.  “So you want to get tickets for a cruise that might disappear?”

“We’ll have to pack for really good and really bad weather,” Rose told him, in case we get dumped somewhere where the weather is weird.”

“I’m always dressed for the weather.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Kind of,” she said, “Not really though. You’re always dressed for fall and winter.”

“What?” The Doctor sputtered, “This outfit is timeless, as well as completely transverse when it comes to weather.”

“That’s not true!” She said, “If you go out like that in the summer, people look at you like you’re absolutely bonkers.  Because you are.  Because it’s weird to wear a suit in summer, and we go to desert planets and you wear your big coat over your suit. That’s just too much!”

“It is not!” He crossed his arms and went back to the console. “I’ll show you, Rose Tyler.”

“No, Doctor,” she giggled a little, “You need to blend in. Like, you really need to blend in, okay?  Because if people get suspicious of us, how are we supposed to protect them?”

He glanced at her. “You really think that I don’t blend in?”

“To me you do,” she reassured him, “You make a good impression when you’re not being rude, but sometimes, you know… Sometimes you’re a lot.”

“But-” he started to feel a bit insecure and tightened his tie.  “You like it though, right?”

She shrugged. “Of course.”

There were moments like this where she had no idea what he wanted from her.  He seemed to care about her opinion an awful lot for someone who lived a life that had people falling at his feet all the time.  She knew people adored him, and he didn’t seem to care about any of them.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“Sorry,” she said, catching herself, “So can we go?’

He blew out a long sigh. “Show me the book you were reading, I need to know what exactly you were going for when you found it.”

“The TARDIS showed it to me,” Rose said, hopping up off the jump seat and reaching for the Doctor’s hand. He took it without hesitation and she led him to the library. He trailed along behind her, humming a little as they walked.  She rolled her eyes at how odd he was being and pulled him into the library.

“My ship showed you a book about vanishing boats in the ocean?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“What, did you think she wouldn’t show me something?” Rose asked as they entered the ornate room.  She glanced around at everything in there again, just liking to look at it while she was in there.  It was beautiful, and it was clear that the Doctor had worked very hard when he had looked into decorating the room.  

She threw the book from the couch at him, and he caught it one handed, not wanting to release Rose’s hand.  He looked down at the book and furrowed his brows.

“Rose, are you trying to stand here and tell me that you were reading a history book for pleasure?  You, who  _ barely  _ reads for pleasure?”

“I read for pleasure all the time, you just don’t see it,” she said, scowling at him. “And it’s interesting, in a planet just like Earth. Well, not just like Earth, but really similar.”

“It is,” The Doctor acknowledged, knowing that it was similar.  “I’m just very surprised that the TARDIS showed it to you, I don’t know.”

“But she did show it to me, which means she must think it would be beneficial if we went there, don’t you see?” Rose said, swinging their hands a little and popping up on her toes to get a good look at his face, just to see what he might be thinking about.  

He looked down at her and grinned. “Okay, okay.”

“Okay?” She perked up.

“Yes, I said okay, don’t push it,” he dropped the books and waggled a finger at her.  “And you’re not going to wander off, and I’m going to keep an eye on you, and you’re going to listen to me.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Are you really worried about this?” “A bit,” he admitted, then blushed, letting go of her hand, “You go pack a bag, I’ll be in the console room when you’re ready.”

“You’ll need a bag,” She said, crossing her arms.  “You know, so that you can pack too.”   


He shook his head. “No, ma’am. I am going to prove to you that this suit can fit into anything, in any time, any place!  You’ll see!”  He left the room then, and Rose laughed as he left. 

She packed a bag quickly, wanting to get back to him so that they could go. She wasn’t really sure why this was so important to her, but the TARDIS had planted that seed of thought in her head.  And if it was important to the TARDIS, that made it important, because there was really nothing the TARDIS thought about that wasn’t relevant to their lives.

She threw in clothes for every season and all her toiletries and all the other things a young woman needs, and bolted back to the console room with the bag in her hand.

“I’m back,” she said cheerfully, skipping into the room and throwing her bag on the jump seat.   


“Welcome back,” he smiled, flipping a couple switches on the TARDIS console and pointing to a switch on the other side. “Hold that down, will you?”

He had been teaching her to fly the TARDIS a bit, and it was making her dreadfully happy, because it felt like she was more of a permanent part of his life, if he was willing to show her this. He had told her that actually, a TARDIS was supposed to be flown like several Time Lords, and it was very odd for one to be flown solo.  That was all the more reason to learn. She wanted to be like him, in a way, in the ways she wasn’t able.

They flew it together as they got to where they were going, and the TARDIS landed roughly, throwing them both back on the grating.

The Doctor burst out laughing, and stood up, rushing to Rose’s side to pull her to her feet.  “I think we’re here.”

“You do, do you?” she asked, rocking back on her heels. “Where exactly is ‘here’?”

The Doctor grinned at her. “Here is supposed to be the dock where we board our cruise that’s going to take us across the Placaton Ocean, through your mysterious spot and everything.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Placaton?”

“What, you thought it would be Pacific, like on Earth?” he raised his eyebrows at her. “Ha!  Not everything is like Earth, Rose Tyler!”

“I know that!” She said, “But Placaton just sounds kind of gross,” she admitted.  

“Placaton,” he wrapped his mouth around the word and hummed a little. “I suppose you might be right.  It is kind of ‘gross’.”

She nodded with her chin towards the door. “So, shall we go?”

He took her hand, lacing their fingers together and beaming at her. “I rather think we shall.”


	2. Chapter 2

Whatever the Doctor wanted to say about things not being like Earth, the dock really did look like something Rose had seen on the decks to ferries in places she had vacationed back home.  She held the Doctor’s hand in hers and looked around at the boats that were docked there.

“S’nice and warm,” she said, swinging their hands a bit.  The breeze touched her face and she had to fight not to close her eyes against it and just enjoy it.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and she wondered if the Doctor planned it that way.

“Yeah, kind of tropical around here,” he said, tugging her along towards the biggest boat.  “That’s ours!  I bought our tickets while you were packing your bag, the TARDIS helped me out a bit with that.”  He glanced over at her and saw her adjust her grip on her bag.  “Oh! Let me carry that for you.”

Sometimes the Doctor got wildly chivalrous in this regeneration, and as nice as it was, she was capable.  “No, I’ve got it, thanks though.”

“No, no, I’ll get it.”  He stopped her and reached around her to grab her bag from her. She continued to protest but he was stronger than her and took it from her, grinning at her and waggling his eyebrows.   


She rolled her eyes. “You are actually impossible.” She told him, trying to sound at least a bit thankful about the whole thing.

“I am not.”  He protested.

“You are!” She nudged his shoulder with hers, “You always want to carry stuff for me.”

“I’m a gentleman,” he snarked at her, squeezing her hand tightly.  “And as a gentleman, I’m going to carry your bag for you to the ship.”

“Where are our tickets?” She asked, breezing over the whole ‘gentleman’ comment because she knew that he’d be insufferable if she agreed with him, and she couldn’t in good conscious disagree with him.  He was absolutely wonderful, and it was that very fact that drove her barmy ninety percent of the time.

They were almost at the boat, and the Doctor tugged her hand a bit. “Reach into my pocket, and grab them, they should be in there somewhere.”

Rose knew that was code for ‘we’re holding hands and we’re not about to  _ not  _ be holding hands, so you can grab it for me’.  She’d only dug around in his pockets once, but she remembered something about it that made her wrinkle her nose.

“Aren’t you pockets bigger on the inside?”

“Well, yes, but you can do it.”

They made it onto the boat eventually, and they went right to their room, which the Doctor told her she’d be very impressed with.  She was already impressed with the boat, as it was ornate and lovely, colored nicely and decorated well. It was classier than any building on Earth she’d ever been in, and she felt a little out of place, but she had a feeling that saying that to the Doctor would make him start to ramble about how brilliant she was.  He had a tendency to do that, after all, whenever she was feeling particularly out of place somewhere that they travelled. 

“S’lovely,” she said as they neared the corridors that held all the rooms.  They’d passed a pool and a bar, and what appeared to be a game room.  There as more even behind it, and Rose found herself itching to go exploring around the cruise.

“It is, isn’t it?” The Doctor said, “You know, ghosts or not, Rose, this might be one of your best ideas.  Holiday and everything.”

“We don’t get many of those,” Rose mused, looking out over the water.  “I just hope that you won’t be bored,” she admitted, inspired by the calm of the ocean around them.  Being surrounded by water was dreadfully peaceful to her, even though she knew it should probably scare her just a bit. She smiled up at the Doctor, noting that he was already looking down at her with a pleased expression on his face.

“Honestly, Rose, I am never bored when I’m with you,” he told her, “Which is very lucky because I happen to be with you all the time.”   


She laughed as they approached a door with the numbers ‘213’ written with fancy gold plate numbers across it.  “I suppose. Unless one of us has been captured or something,” she reminded him as he put the keycard into the lock.  

With a very satisfying click, he swung the door open. “Ah!” He said happily, walking into the room.  Rose walked in behind him and watched him set her suitcase on the single bed in the middle of the cabin. 

Wait.  Single bed?  Single, queen sized bed, right there, wrapped up in white pillowcases and a charming blue duvet.  One bed, two chairs and a tiny table, and an even tinier refrigerator. She gulped, staring down at the that bed that would probably be the cause of her death within the foreseeable future.

Of course, they had shared beds before, in jail cells or pompous, huge castles, but that had always been a situation they had been placed into, not one that they had gone into themselves.  She cleared her throat and shut the door behind her, not wanting any passers-by to hear the awkward conversation.

“Um, so did you book this room specifically?” Rose asked, rocking back on her heels a bit.  

He glanced over at her from where he was at the corner of the room, taking his jacket off. “There weren’t many rooms left, I had to book us in as a honeymooning couple, but I told them I absolutely did not want the honeymoon sweet.  Distasteful, that.”

Ah, so it didn’t mean anything to him at all. That would figure. She laughed a little.  “What, big red bed, with white fairy lights over it?”

“Heart shaped too, if you can believe it,” he teased right back, rolling up his sleeves. 

“Thought you wanted to prove to me how versatile your outfit is,” Rose said as she noticed the adjustments that he was making to his suit.

He ‘humphed’ at her. “The terms did not state that I had to be wearing my full suit at all times,” he told her, shaking a finger at her.  “This is completely acceptable.”

“I believe it was implied that you would at least have your jacket on.”  She wasn’t serious, but she really did want to get off the topic of the bed looming in the middle of the room if she could help it.  

He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, for once, at a complete loss as to what to say.  He finally shook his head at her, laughing a little, probably to himself. “You play dirty, Rose Tyler, and I, for one, will not give in to such tricks. I hereby decree that adjustments to my suit are allowed, provided that I wear the same suit through our entire time here. Is that fair enough for you?”   


She nodded and turned her nose up, feigning annoyance. “I think I can agree to that,” she said, and moved to start unpacking her suitcase.

He sat down on the bed next to the suitcase and looked up into her face. “So, what do you want to do tonight?”  He asked. “I had the TARDIS slip a few extra things into your bag, so we can do whatever we want.”

“What’s available?” She asked, “If this is a proper holiday and all.”

“Well, there’s a dinner in about four hours, once we set sail,” he told her, giving her a little mock salute, “And you’ll need to eat something, so we’ll do that.  Then, as we embark on our great voyage upon the Placaton, there is shuffleboard, games, social mixers, and dancing that we can attend.”

“Dancing?” She perked up a bit at that. “I don’t have a dress for that.”

“One of the things I had the TARDIS slip in for you,” he said a bit smugly, and she blushed a little. It seemed that the Doctor was very good at being thoughtful when it either occurred to him or was convenient for him.  She toyed with a shirt she was holding and looked down at the pink fabric.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said softly, not looking at him as she started to open drawers to put things in.

“I wanted to,” he protested, scooting a bit closer to her. “You love dancing, Rose, I wasn’t going to miss out on an opportunity to take you dancing.  We’ve been dancing, oh, at about sixty different parties, all dignified, mind you, and you always enjoy it so much.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I dunno, makes me feel special I guess,” she admitted. “Like some kind of princess or something.”

He beamed at her.  “I promise you, Rose Tyler, there are about eighty five planets where you would be held high as a queen or goddess to the people there.”  He gestured to her bag, “Pull out the dress so that it doesn’t get wrinkled.”

She looked at him, a little suspicious, but shuffled her clothing around until she found what he had wanted her to.  It was already on a hanger (very thoughtful, the TARDIS) and Rose hung it on the doorframe above the closet to inspect it.

It was black, sleeveless, looked like it would fit her in a mermaid cut, and had silver and colored jewels encrusted on it, sweeping down the bodice and into the skirt in a pattern that resembled a beautiful wave or ribbed.  The fabric was folded and tucked just right, and she could hardly wait a moment to put it on.  

She turned to the Doctor, who was standing now, and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she said happily, hardly able to believe it.  He really had thought of everything in the short time she’d been getting ready to go.  He was dreadfully thoughtful when his ship persuaded him to be.  Or maybe she just didn’t give him enough credit.  

He wrapped his arms around her in return and held her tightly to him, seeming to be very happy with this turn of events.  “You’re welcome,” he said softly into her hair, and she smiled even wider at him.  

“We could go tonight, after dinner, if you like,” he said cheerfully when she released him, and he rocked back on his heels.  “The TARDIS packed you some appropriate shoes as well, so I hope they’ll fit.”

“I’m sure they will,” Rose said, turning back to the dress and touching it. “The TARDIS knows my sizing.”

The Doctor tilted his head at her.  “So, would you like to go tonight?  After dinner, we could go dancing.”

“I’d love to,” she said, turning back to the dress. “But I don’t think I’m allowed to wear something like this to dinner, am I?  People will definitely stare at me, and I don’t want-” she cut herself off, chewing her bottom lip.

“If people stare at you, it will only be to marvel at how lovely you look,” the Doctor said quietly, hoping that he wasn’t laying himself too bare to Rose by saying that to her.  He knew she didn’t find herself particularly attractive, and for the life of him, he could not figure out why. She was lovely, and her soul was just as beautiful, didn’t she see that.

“Thanks, Doctor,” she said.

“Anytime!” He chirped, adopting his carefree spirit once more.  “It’s not for awhile though, so we could do some exploring before then,” he suggested.

“Okay,” Rose agreed, grinning, looking forward to the trip as much as the adventure it promised. “Do you know when we cross the- you know.”

The Doctor scratched his jaw, “By my count, about three days. I think we’ll hit it around then.  I’d like to make sure that we’re together when it happens, just in case there’s some sort of separation.  You know?”

Rose smiled a little. “Were you thinking about leaving me somewhere through the trip?” She crossed her arms. 

“No!” He raised his eyebrows at her and laughed, “No, of course not, but Rose, you have to admit that you make friends really quickly.”

“I’ve never left you alone, have I?” She asked, furrowing her brows.  “I really do try not to wander off,” she added, suddenly feeling guilty for something she wasn’t sure she did.

He laughed and shook his head. “Not really, no,” he promised, “And to be fair, I wander off just as much as you.” He held out his hand for her, wiggling his fingers at you.  “Now, come on, let’s explore this boat.”


	3. Chapter 3

The two of them went about the boat before they set off.  It was very different from other boats she’d been on, much nicer, for one.  There weren’t a lot of people on it, just because people were getting settled in their rooms and doing whatever it was that people did when they settled in. Rose wasn’t terribly accustomed to settling in, since the Doctor liked to run right once they got to where they were.

She was fine with it, usually, especially now that all she could think about was that dress that she was going to be wearing tonight.  She swung the Doctor’s hand as she skipped along next to him, beaming up at him. He looked down at her and laughed a little, shaking his head.

“You are a bit full of it today, aren’t you?”  He asked, squeezing her hand and tugging her up against him.

“Yeah,” she said, “I’m just happy.  Aren’t I allowed to be happy?” She was just teasing, but his face softened a little.

“I like when you’re happy,” he said quietly, “Now what do you want to look at first?”

The two of them wandered the boat, finding out that they were going to have to sit with strangers at dinner, and the Doctor said “kind of like a wedding” while wrinkling his nose and being a little rude about the whole thing.  Rose cocked an eyebrow at him, wondering what, exactly, was wrong with weddings, but she supposed it was all a bit too domestic for him, so she shut up and didn’t say anything about it.

It was just a reminder, though, that he was so different than her, that after one dance with her tonight he would probably bolt and not want to come near her again.  She got too close to him sometimes, and he got spooked and would shoot away from her at top speed when he got anxious, or he held her to close, or he brushed against her and their noses brushed.

She liked it, though.  She liked when he was close, but she knew that it was often too much for him.  He couldn’t handle being close to her, because he never knew what was too far. She  _ knew  _ that.  And still, she held his hand like it was her lifeline, because in many ways, it was.  When she wasn’t in London, she was one hundred percent out of her comfort zone.  She needed to be near him, but just  _ why  _ she felt that way she wasn’t willing to admit, not even to herself.

It appeared that she had been alone in her thoughts for too long. The Doctor’s voice broke through her clouded mind, with a gentle tone as he said, “Rose, where are you right now?”

She looked up at him and smiled a little apologetically. “Sorry about that,” she said, blushing a little. “Just thinking I guess.” She pointed out at the water. “It’s so quiet.  I hope there’s no storms while we’re here.”

‘I don’t think there should be,” the Doctor said, “And even if there was, it would probably be a part of your Bermuda Triangle.”

She giggled. “Fair enough.” she said, then her smile fell a little. “Is there something that we have to do, to prepare for storms?”

“We’re at the mercy of the sea!” the Doctor swept a hand out grandly over the sea, and she laughed, tugging him to the rail so she could look over at the ocean.  

She’d seen many oceans, but she loved them every single time, and the Doctor never wanted to take her to the beach, because he hated to wear anything less than three layers, so whenever ‘they’ went swimming, it was code for ‘Rose swims and the Doctor plays lifeguard and just stares at her from the sand’.  Which was just as well, Rose thought, at least he was still invested in the trip on some level.

As though reading her thoughts, the Doctor spoke, “You know, below deck, there’s an indoor swimming pool.”   


Rose raised her eyebrows and looked over at him, her expression excited.  “Are you serious?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m completely serious!” the Doctor said, furrowing his brows at her, “Why would I lie to you about a swimming pool?”

“Because you hate swimming.”

“I don’t hate swimming,” he grumbled, looking back out over the still water and the city beyond the docks.

“Well, you never do it with me when you take me, and whenever I’m in the TARDIS pool, I’m alone,” She pointed out. “To me, that sounds like someone who hates swimming.”  She hadn’t meant to call him out on it, but he had been the one to bring it up, so it was sort of his fault, in a way.

He made a noise of indignance and leaned on the railing, releasing her hand in the process.  She mirrored his position and peered up at him, waiting for him to speak again. It really did seem like he was building up for a good ramble, and when that happened, it was best to just sit back and listen.

“I don’t go swimming with you in the ocean because if I go swimming with you, there will be no one to watch you and make sure you’re safe.”

“And I wouldn’t be safer if you were with me?” She asked, hoping she had a good enough point to stump him for a moment.

He opened and closed his mouth a couple times. “I wouldn’t be thinking about protecting you then, I’d just be having fun with you, and then I couldn’t look out of you,” he nodded, like he was trying to convince himself of it.

Rose scratched her jaw and hummed.  “Okay, sure, but what about the pool at the TARDIS?  You’re nowhere to be seen any time I’m in there.  What if I drowned?”

“First of all, the TARDIS would never let you drown,” The Doctor pointed out, “She’d sooner drain the pool at lightening speed to make sure you  _ didn’t  _ drown.  And we just never seem to hit the pool at the same time.”

“Wait, so you hit the pool?”

“I said I didn’t hate swimming!” He laughed, “I go swimming sometimes!”

She turned towards him, leaning her elbow on the railing and looking up at him.  “So you’re going to come swimming with me while we’re here then?” She asked him, in a sort of teasing way, as she knew that he would not come with her, and she’d be off to her own devices.

“I’ll come to the pool with you,” he said.

“What, really?”

“Yes, if that’s what you want,” he looked at her and saw the surprise on her face. “Oi, that does loads for my ego, thanks,” he said, stepping away from the railing, “Come on, let’s go get ready for dinner.  I might have to help you get into that dress.”

She nodded, “I won’t be able to zip it myself.  And I’ll have to do my hair and put some makeup on.”

He took her hand and started guiding them back to their room.  He let out a long sigh.  “You take such a long time to get ready, and then you don’t really look  _ that  _ different, I really don’t understand.”

She pursed her lips. Of course, the Doctor was still a man, of course he wouldn’t understand what it was like when she dressed up and felt pretty.  She lifted her shoulder. “It’s not about looking beautiful,” she said, “It’s about feeling beautiful.”

“What, you don’t feel beautiful right now?”

She looked down at her admittedly plain outfit. “Um, no, not especially,” she said, “This is just, like, everyday wear, you know?” she said, “When a woman dresses up a lot, she  _ feels  _ better about herself.”

He frowned. “You have no reason to not feel good about yourself,’ He said softly.”

She squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to say that stuff. Come on, let’s just get ready!”

She changed before she did her makeup and hair, and came out holding the dress around her chest. She didn’t even look at the mirror before she came out, as she just wanted to see it when it was on her and fitted right.

The Doctor zipped her up, probably a bit more slowly than he should have, or even needed to.  He smoothed his hand along the tops of her shoulders when he was done and stepped back.  She turned to him and adjusted her chest in the dress, tugging it right to where she wanted it to be.  She smoothed her hands down the skirt.  “How’s it look?”   


He was staring.  He probably didn’t realize it, but he was.  He looked up to her eyes and smiled softly. “You look positively lovely.”

Rose smiled. She was really just asking about the fit, but she wasn’t going to shut down a nice compliment from the Doctor. “Thanks,” she said, “I’ve got to do my hair and makeup, though.”

“I like you hair this way,” the Doctor said, furrowing his brows at her.  “What do you want to do with it?”

She giggled. “I was gonna curl it.”

“Well.. Why?”

“Because I like how it looks curly,” Rose furrowed her brows. “You really don’t understand women, do you?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I like to think I understand you, but I suppose I’ve never seen you dress up like this before.”

She nodded. “Well, yeah, kind of, but I’ve never gotten ready for any balls or anything in front of you,” she said softly, wringing her hands.  “And you’re gonna wear your suit?”

“I might have brought a couple extra ties, I could try something a bit different.”

Rose laughed.  “Someone is going to call you out on this before this trip is over, I’m telling you,” Rose insisted.  “It’s weird to wear the same outfit, no matter how versatile it is,” She adjusted the dress again.  “I’ll be back,” she turned back to the bathroom, and felt his eyes on her as she walked back to the bathroom.

It was really a beautiful dress. She smiled a little. It fit her beautifully, and she was never able to wear beautiful things before she was with the Doctor.  That wasn’t why she was with him of course, but she had to admit that it was a nice perk, to feel and look beautiful. 

She curled her hair and did her makeup, a bit more intense than she would’ve done.  Dark greys and blacks, and a dark eyeliner.  She added a bit of pink lip gloss and stared at herself in the mirror for a bit.

When she came back out, the Doctor was adjusting his jacket.  He had put a black tie on and a dark oxford instead of his usually light and swirly colors.  He smiled at her as she came out.  

“Oh, you look lovely,” he said softly.

She smiled and looked down at herself before glancing up at him. “Does that count as the same suit?” She asked him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Trousers and jacket are the same,” he said, staring down at himself, smoothing his hands down his lapels.  “It counts to me,” he told her, raising his chin a little at her.

She cocked her head. “Okay, I’ll let it slide,” she said, “but only because you look really handsome.”

He ran his hand through his hair and preened a little at her compliment.  “Well, we’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

“I should say so.”

He held his arm out for her.  “Accompany me to dinner, Rose Tyler?”

“The pleasure is all mine,” she said, threading her arm through his.  They walked together towards the dinner hall, and Rose imagined, not for the first time, that the Doctor just wanted to take her somewhere nice and so he did.  Even though that never happened, it was something that she wished for dreadfully all the time.  

He would never know, though.  He would never know how much she loved him, so she would have to be content with him calling her beautiful and taking her to dinner on a very nice boat.  Aside from the whole Bermuda Triangle thing, it proved to be a really beautiful trip, and she was happy, regardless of what was going to happen.

But for now, the Doctor was her dinner date.


	4. Chapter 4

Rose thought she might be a little overdressed for dinner, that was, until she saw everybody else.  She tightened her hold on the Doctor’s arm.  “Everyone looks so nice,” She whispered, not looking at him, so she couldn’t see that he was already looking down at her. 

“You fit right in,” he told her, trying to reassure her.

“Well, where are we gonna sit? We have to sit with people we don’t know,” Rose reminded him, glancing around the room that was already bustling with action.  She swallowed hard.  

He patted her hand in the crook of his arm. “It’s going to be okay, Rose,” he said, “We just have to ask someone if we can sit with them.  Like so.”  he walked to a table that was mostly empty.  “Hello, do you mind if we sit here for dinner?” He asked the two men and the woman that were already sitting there.

“Not at all!” One man said, looking directly as Rose as he spoke. “There’s no one else sitting here, come on down.”

Rose smiled and the Doctor pulled out a chair for her, and she sat, smiling up at him in thanks.  He returned her smile and winked at her, trying to reassure her.  He took her hand the moment he was sat at the table.  

Luckily, there was no centerpiece, so they could all look at each other at the table.  “So, what brings you two to the ship?” The woman asked, smiling.

“Oh, I’m the Doctor and this is Rose, we’re on our honeymoon,” the Doctor said smoothly, and though it was a lie, it made her heart jump.

“Congratulations!” The woman said, clapping her hands.  “Arnold, isn't’ that marvelous?”

“Yes, it is!” The man, apparently Arnold, looked at the woman next to him fondly.  “I’m sorry, how rude of us.  This is Caroline and I’m Arnold. We’re celebrating our ten year anniversary on this cruise.”

“That’s cause for congratulations as well,” The Doctor said, smiling.  

“Oh, but a honeymoon.  New love is unlike anything else, I can tell you that.”  Caroline smiled.  “Ah, I’ve nearly forgot, this is Arnold’s brother, Andrew.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Andrew said, but he just looked at Rose and not the Doctor.  She blushed a little and cleared her throat, looking away from him.  “I stay in a different cabin from these lovebirds over here, just so I don’t get in the way."

The Doctor’s hand tightened on Rose’s and he tugged their clasped hand onto his knee.  She looked at him, a little surprised, but the Doctor was too busy staring at Andrew, as though trying to put him back in his place.’

“Well, suppose that’s why they didn’t pair you up with us in our room,” The Doctor said, smiling.

Rose blushed, putting her free hand over her face.  “Doctor.”  Why was he saying things like that?  They weren’t actually together, they weren’t actually doing anything in their room that was romantic in the least.  So why was he trying to say things like this? Like they were together?  She cleared her throat.

“Sorry about him,” She said, smiling, “He’s a lot.”

Caroline seemed to know that Rose didn’t want to talk about whatever the Doctor and Andrew had been talking about anymore.  She looked to Rose. “You look beautiful in that dress, wherever did you get it?”   


“Oh, the Doctor bought it for me,” Rose said.  “I didn’t even know he’d brought it on the trip until we got here and he mentioned dancing.”

“That’s so romantic.” Caroline said dreamily.

Rose knew the Doctor, and so she really didn’t see it as romantic, it was really just the Doctor being the Doctor.  He occasionally bought her things and did nice things, and sometimes she gave him things and did nice things for him as well.  It was what friends did, wasn’t it?  They looked out for each other, they cared about each other.  They did nice things for each other.  Right?  

The Doctor simply smiled as a well dressed waiter came around and served them all wine, asking if they preferred red or white with their dinner tonight.  The Doctor whispered to Rose that what they would be having tonight was similar to chicken but wasn’t really chicken at all. S he gave him a funny look.

“Then what is it?”

“Not chicken.”  He replied, grinning at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “That’s not very helpful. You could’ve just let me believe it was chicken, you know.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. “I always try to get you to get involved in new experiences, don’t I?”

“Not usually with food,” she admitted.

The courses they had, admittedly, she was familiar with, and so it was easy for her to maintain conversation over a side salad and a little bit of soup.  Once she’d finished the soup, however, the Doctor nudged her with his shoulder. “Want to know what was in that?”

Rose paled, “Wasn’t it fish?”

“Kind of,” The Doctor nodded, scratching his jaw.  “It’s this planet’s version of squid and jellyfish.”

“Jellyfish?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah,” the Doctor said, grinning, “The squid doesn’t weird you out but the jellyfish does?”

Rose wrinkled her nose at him. “Yeah, because we eat squid on Earth too. I don’t, mind you, but some people do, I’m sure of it,” She looked down to her empty bowl, a bit speechless that she had just eaten that.

“But did you like it?” The Doctor asked, leaning his head closer to hers and raising his eyebrows.  She pursed her lips to keep from smiling and looked back at him.

“Yeah.”

The ‘chicken’ dinner was also very good, and Rose felt a little less odd about eating the almost chicken and the strangely colored vegetables and a couple rolls.  Rose was very happy about the whole thing, really. She  _ liked  _ exotic food, though she didn’t experience it that much, really.  There were lots of things that were similar to things on Earth, but the tastes of the vegetables were really different, and she could feel the Doctor watching her to make sure that she liked them.  

Rose looked to him and nodded. “Nice,” She said.  

“So, Doctor, what do the two of you do?” Caroline asked, smiling.  “You seem very close.”

“We travel,” Rose spoke up before the Doctor could say someone else embarrassing.  “I was new to it, what, two years ago? When we met.  We’ve been all sorts of places.”

“Have you ever travelled to different planets?” Arnold asked, perking up, “Now that that’s something that’s available to the general public.  Caroline and I have always wanted to travel to another planet.”

“Actually, Rose and I aren’t even from the  _ same  _ planet,” The Doctor said, seeming to preen a bit.  “Tell them, Rose.”

Rose laughed a little. “Yeah, I was born on Earth.”

“Earth!” Andrew leaned on the table towards Rose a bit. “That’s incredible. How is Earth?  I’ve heard so many stories.”

“I mean, it’s not really home anymore,” Rose admitted, taking a sip of her wine.  “I’ve been living with the Doctor for so long that I don’t feel like I’ve even lived on Earth. But I, um, I loved it while I was there.”

“We’ve never been off world,” Caroline said, “That must be wonderful, travelling, seeing all those different things and people.”

“I love it,” Rose said honestly, smiling.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor look at her and smile softly.  

*****   
The dancing started after the dessert had been finished and Rose got to her feet, watching the band. The Doctor stood up next to her and reached for her hand. He looked a little nervous to simply ask her to dance, so she slipped her hand in his and tugged him a little bit.  

The tables were moved a bit, pushed to the side to allow dancing.  The Doctor led her to the dance floor, making them the first couple on it, and he settled his hand on her waist and tightened his grip on her other hand.

“It’s been a long time since we danced,” Rose said softly, barely having the presence of mind to look at him.  “Since the Blitz.”

“Massive oversight on my part,” he remarked, squeezing her hand, and she laughed, finally looking up into his face.  He was smiling, but his eyes were guarded, and her heart fell a little.  She knew that nothing was going to come out of this night, now that she was looking at him straight in the face.  

Caroline and Arnold approached the dance floor as well, and Andrew stood on the side, having no one to dance with of course.  His hands were in his pockets and Rose frowned a little when she saw him.  

“He fancies you,” the Doctor said a little darkly.  

“No he doesn’t,” Rose said, shaking her head. “He’s just some bloke.”

“A bloke that fancies you,” The Doctor said, “Trust me, I can spot it a mile away.”

“Well, every girl we’ve ever come across fancies you, so perhaps we’re even now,” she said, breaking eye contact with him.  She looked over his shoulder at the lights above the tables that were still being pushed as the band played softly.  

He hummed. “I’ve never noticed,” he said softly, “How am I supposed to know that?”  

“You’re a brilliant man, Doctor, dreadfully brilliant, but you’re hardly perceptive.  Every woman we meet looks at me, shooting daggers at me because you’re holding my hand.”

He stared at her until she met his eye. “Well, I’m certainly not going to stop holding your hand because a woman is glaring at you.  I like holding your hand.”

She giggled a little at the thought. “I suppose you do, don’t you?”

The Doctor smiled and was about to say something when Andrew clapped his hand on the Doctor’s shoulder.  “Do you mind if I cut in, mate?”

The Doctor seemed a bit scandalized. “Um, well, Andrew, normally I would let you, but it’s only the first dance, and as I’ve said, Rose and I are on our honeymoon,” he said, his hands tightening on her a little bit.  Rose looked at him in shock. What was with the possessiveness all of a sudden?  He didn’t own her.

“Later on, Andrew,” She told her, smiling, “Come find me later.”

Andrew seemed to feel a bit better about that and smiled at her, ducking his head in a nod and leaving her side.  The Doctor grumbled and pulled her closer to him.  She smacked his chest lightly.

“What are you on about?” She asked him, “That was rude.”   


“It’s our first night!” He whined, “And I’ve never taken you dancing anywhere besides the TARDIS. He gets one dance.   _ One.   _ And then that’s it, and we dance until the end of the night, got it?”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” She mumbled, leaning her head against his shoulder as the music slowed. She knew that she would say the same thing to him if a woman had asked to cut in, but she had to be polite.  Really, she just wanted to be polite.  She’d rather hold the Doctor all night than have to dance with some guy that was going to try and chat her up while she was supposed to be married. 

The Doctor pressed a kiss to the top of her head and wrapped his arm tighter around her, humming the song they were playing on the band.  She burrowed closer to him.

“You know this song?”   
  
“I know every song?”   


They danced all night, save for the one dance she had to save with Andrew.  They bid goodnight to Caroline and Arnold and then started to walk back to their room.

“Thanks for tonight.”

“It was for me just as much as it was for you. I had fun!”

“You did?” She asked, looking at him.

He grinned and swung their hands.  “Of course!”

She smiled to herself and squeezed his hand, her heart feeling suspiciously warm and happy.  It was probably just the wine.

Somewhere in her sleepy mind, she remembered the most stressful part of the trip. They had to share a bed.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor let Rose take the bathroom, saying that he didn't’ need to shower, with his superior biology and all. He also told Rose that he would change into his jimjams while she was in there.  Rose arched her brows at him.

“I thought your suit was good for anything.”

He looked at her a little bashfully and scuffed his shoe on the floor of their little cabin. “Well, um, you know, not to sleep in.”

She giggled and shook her head, deciding to let him off the hook about this.  “Hey, unzip me?” She asked, turning around 

He swallowed almost audibly and he approached her slowly, unzipping her dress.  She wondered why he was being weird about this now.  Because they’d been so close all night, maybe.  Maybe he’d had enough of her.  Rose felt her heart sink a little. That was a little odd, that he would not want to be close to her. 

She smiled over her shoulder at him. “Thanks,” she said, and disappeared into the bathroom. She changed and took off all her makeup before brushing out her hair so it was in waves around her face.  She stared at her naked face in the mirror and breathed out a sigh.  She smoothed her hands down her shirt and shorts, looking at herself in the mirror.  SHe didn’t feel exactly beautiful, but she was going to have to do. 

When she exited back into the main room she hung up the dress in the closet and put her fingers to the beading, smiling a little.  “Thanks,” She said softly, not looking at the Doctor, “For tonight.”

“Of course,” he replied, and she could hear him turning down the covers on the bed.  “This was your idea, might as well make it a good trip.”

She smiled and turned around, seeing him sitting up in the bed, looking at her.  She walked to the bed and got under the covers.  “My feet ache,” She said, “But I had a really nice night, Doctor.”

“I’m glad,” he said, smiling at her.  “I do want you to watch yourself around Andrew, though,” he said, a little cautiously.

“I’m not going to go scampering off with him,” she said, laughing as she lay down and pulled the blankets a little.  “What, you think I’d want to live on some other planet?”

“Well, how should I know?” He asked softly, bracing himself up on his elbow next to her.  “I don’t know what you want in a relationship with a  _ human  _ male. I know very little about that.”

She shook her head, a little surprised that they were having this conversation.  “You seriously think I want a relationship with somebody, and leave you? You seriously think that I would leave you?” She furrowed her brows at him, shocked about his quiet tone and the gentle look on his face.  

“People have before, Rose.”

Her heart fell.  “I’m not leaving you,” she said, “I’m travelling with you forever, I decided that, and it’s not going to change because a guy looked at me twice. I’ve learned not to do that.”  She poked him in the chest. “And you’ll notice I only gave him one dance.”

He grinned, looking very pleased with himself. “Yeah,” he said.  He looked over at the door, just to see if the door was locked properly, and then he laid down next to her, on his back.  He tugged up the blankets over them.  

“Goodnight,’ He whispered.

“Goodnight.  I thought you didn't need much sleep,” She said into the darkness.  

“Um, no I don’t,” he admitted, “But I don’t mind sleeping for the next few days.  Just for the cruise, mind, don’t think that I’ll be sleeping every night for the rest of our lives.”  he shifted a bit, and she laughed.

“Certainly not. I definitely wouldn’t want you to have to  _ rest.   _ I know how you hate to do that,” She said, turning over onto her stomach and pushing her arms under the pillow.  “You might actually feel relaxed every once in awhile.”   


“Oi, I’m perfectly relaxed right now,” he protested, and she could practically hear him falling asleep next to her.  She bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything to him about it.  He probably hadn’t slept for a longer time than he had actually let on.  

They fell asleep side by side, and unbeknownst to them, they wrapped themselves up in each other.   The Doctor ended up spooned up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his face in her hair.  He just wanted to be near to her, even in sleep, and their legs tangled together as they fell into what was possibly the most natural position that the two of them had ever been in before. 

When Rose woke up, she breathed in slowly, swimming up from sleep.  She felt breath on her neck and knew that somehow it had to be the Doctor, since he was the only person she could possibly be sharing a bed with.  He was gripping her like his life depended on it, and he seemed to need her close.

She kept her eyes closed, needing to be close to him as well.  They hugged loads, and held hands, and they had danced close last night, but there was nothing like this.  This was so intimate, this holding her when it was still dark out.  It had to be very early in the morning, she supposed.  She burrowed back against the Doctor, not wanting to waste the opportunity to be close to him.  He would probably rip himself from her the moment that he woke up, and that wasn’t what she wanted.  

She sighed and let herself fall back asleep, knowing that he’d be gone when she woke up.

Strangely enough, the Doctor was still spooned up behind her when she woke to sunlight pouring in through the little porthole in their room.  She hummed a little as his breath touched the back of her neck, rustling her hair a little bit.  He woke up behind her, she could tell because his breathing changed, and he stretched his legs against hers.  She heard him smack his lips and had to bite back a laugh.  

“Good morning,” He said.

“Good morning,” She replied, resisting the urge to flip over in his arms and look him in the face. It was probably better if they didn’t look each other in the eye when they were this close.  “What’s on the agenda for today?”

When her stomach growled, he tickled her side. “Well, first, breakfast.  Then I was thinking we could do a bit of swimming. What do you think?” 

“Sounds good,” She said, “I have to get up and change.”

“Right!” he pulled back from her and sat up before popping to his feet, rocking back on his bare heels and not looking at her for a few moments.  “Right, yes.  I suppose we both need to put some decent clothing on, wouldn’t want to show up at the dining room in our jim jams? Would hardly be appropriate.”

She rubbed her eye and sat up.  She had been expecting this behavior, after all, so she couldn’t say that she was surprised by any of it, including his antsy physical behavior.  “Yeah,” she agreed.  “I’ll just go in and… Shower, and all that.  I’ll be back,” she patted his shoulder on her way to the bathroom, rummaging around for some jean shorts and a t shirt before disappearing into the bathroom.  She could practically hear him scuttling around to get into his suit and she shook her head, laughing a little to herself.  He really was a proper nutter. 

They walked to breakfast together and Rose nearly groaned when she saw Caroline running up to her, waving as though they were long lost friends who had miraculously ended up on the same cruise ship.  Rose waved a little sheepishly, keeping her hand locked with the Doctor’s, as it really always was. 

“Come sit with us,” Caroline said, taking her hand, “We had so much fun talking to you both last night, and I am just so happy that we met you.” She was grinning like a madwoman, and Rose could tell that she was dreadfully genuine, so she nodded. 

“Alright, where are you sitting?” Rose asked, and Caroline let go of her hand and beckoned her and the Doctor over to a table in the far corner, menus laid out and glasses of water already on the table.  Arnold and Andrew were sitting down, chatting animatedly over the open menus.  They lifted their eyes when Rose and the Doctor approached with Caroline. 

“Good morning, newlyweds!” Arnold chirped happily.  “How goes married life?”

Rose nearly winced, but plastered a smile on her face instead and nodded, waiting for the Doctor to answer instead. 

“Oh, I could ask you the same thing, Arnold!” The Doctor said cheekily, amusement coloring his voice. Arnold laughed and nodded.

“Yes, I suppose you could,” he said.  

They all sat down and started looking at the menus.  The Doctor leaned over Rose and whispered what some of the dishes actually were, and which he thought she would enjoy the best.  

“Can we each get something different and then share?” Rose asked, squinting at the section that read ‘eggs’ but Rose wasn’t really sure if they were eggs.  When she asked, the Doctor shrugged and said ‘kind of’ and that wasn’t really terribly reassuring to her, so Rose just went ahead and decided not to order from there.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” he said, “Surf and turf?”

She scratched the back of her neck and nodded. “Yeah, okay, just tell me what it is before you order it, I don’t really think that I want any surprises when it comes to what I’m going to be eating.”

“Fair enough.”

“Rose, I hope you slept well,” Andrew said, speaking for the first time since they sat down.  Rose looked up from her menu and smiled politely.

“Thank you,” she said, “I slept just fine.”

“I was a bit worried some of the passengers would just be getting seasick,” Andrew explained, seeming like he wanted to cover it up.  He spoke hurriedly. “You know, it’s horrible, all the waves when we first set sail.”

“I didn't’ even feel it,” Rose said honestly and turned to the Doctor. “Did you?”

“Yeah,” The Doctor replied, nodding a little. His nose wrinkled up as he thought a little. “Yeah, I feel most things,” he said, “Just didn’t hinder my sleep or anything.”

Rose furrowed her brows. “Why didn’t I get seasick?”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “I’ve seen the hangover cures you make.  You have a stomach made out of steel.”

The other occupants at the table laughed and Rose had to laugh as well.  It was still rather funny, even if it was at her expense. She knew there was no ill will behind it and so it didn’t bother her as much as it would have if it had come from, say, Jimmy Stone.  She pushed that thought aside and folded up her menu, setting it on the table.

“The juice, it all has weird names,” Rose said to him as the other couple chatted with Andrew.  “Is there something close to orange juice? And maybe a cup of tea?”

“Yeah, here,” he pointed at it on his own menu.  “I think I’ll have some tea too.”

“Or tea-like substance?”

The Doctor flashed her a grin. “Same difference, isn’t it?”

The breakfast passed smoothly, and Rose grew a little more irritated as Andrew tried to talk to her more and more. The second Rose had finished her meal, she turned and laid a hand on the Doctor’s arm. “The two of us wanted to explore the boat some more, so you’ll excuse us for begging off early.”

“Of course!” Caroline said, grinning, “We’ll see you at lunch or dinner.”

Rose and the Doctor went back to their room and changed into their swimsuits before heading back out to the pool. Rose could hardly believe that he was actually going to swim, and she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to last too long.  He’d get bored soon enough and she’d be swimming laps by herself, which was fine, really.

And because the Doctor liked to panic, she brought a set of clothes for herself could anything happen. She was quite used to ‘things’ happening, after all.  

It would appear that things were going to happen very soon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff at the beginning, big plot move at the end

Rose took her cover up off and looked down at her red bikini.  It fit her nice, even if she hadn’t worn it in a very long time.  She took her attention off herself but looking out at the pool. 

“It’s so nice,” she said.  “Not as nice as the TARDIS pool, mind you, but nice.” She smiled over at him. 

He grinned back at her, and removed his t shirt, which he usually wore under his suit.  She supposed that parts of his suit really were for everyday purposes.  “There is not a better pool than the TARDIS pool, but this one is rather nice.”

It was a big-ish pool, and it was indoor, clearly an activity for people to use if it was raining outside.  There was gentle classical music playing in the atrium, and Rose thought about asking the TARDIS to do that for her when she got back.  

Rose put their things on one of the chairs, the chair that she assumed the Doctor was going to sit on when she swam.  Even though he said he’d swim with her, she was still a bit skeptical about the whole thing.  

Much to her surprise, the Doctor surprised Rose by actually getting in the pool with her.  There were a couple other people, but they were sitting in the chairs, reading.  Rose wrinkled her nose and looked at the Doctor, who was getting used to the water.

“So, like, this is all rich people, isn’t it?” Rose asked quietly.

The Doctor barely repressed a snort and nodded.  “Yes,” he said, “The wealthier people on the planet come on this cruise. Couldn’t you tell, with the way Caroline and Arnold act?”  He came closer to her where she was in chest high water.

“They’re nice, though,” Rose said, making a bit of a face at him. “Really, they’re nice, not like the stuck up rich people we’ve met and laughed at, do you know what I mean?” She watched her fingers play through the water, trying not to look at him in case he didn’t agree with her.  

“They  _ are  _ nice, but they’re too much,” The Doctor said.  “You know.  Especially Andrew.”

“God, you really hate Andrew,” Rose said, looking up at him and narrowing her eyes.  She laughed a little bit. “You know, sometimes I think you get a bit jealous for no reason.”

“Why would I be jealous?” The Doctor crossed his arms, “I am not jealous of anybody,” he said firmly.

“Sure,” she said, “Sure you’re not.”  She smiled at him and he pursed his lips at her, as though he was trying not to smile back and almost failing horribly at it.  He approached her and looked as though he was going to tuck her hair behind her ear, and then just simply dunked her in the pool.

Rose gasped on the way down and pushed back up laughing as he stared down at her, grinning.  He stepped back from her. ‘Race you!” He said cheerfully, diving into the water.  

She dove after him, not sure where they were racing to, and followed him all the way to the wall on the opposite side of the pool.  He reached it first, and once she got to it, she pushed her hair back and scowled at him. 

“I really cannot believe you cheated,” she said, pushing at his chest.

“Of course,” he said, “you’ve been running a lot lately, how else was I supposed to beat you?” 

She pushed him back, trying to dunk him under, and failed spectacularly.  He was taller and stronger than her, though if he wanted to let her push him over, he would have let her.  He grabbed her around the waist.

“Oh, my hair,” he said, scowling at her.

“It’s already a little wet,” Rose said, reaching up to touch it.  

“Not all wet!” he said, “I am an excellent swimmer, so excellent that I didn’t get my hair all the way wet.”  He smiled a little, “You, on the other hand, are completely soaked.  All the way to the bone.”

“I am not,” She said.  “You could be.  You know, people usually get in the pool to get wet.”

He was studying her carefully, watching her with a little happy expression.  He blinked. “Well, you could go ahead and try to get my hair wet, but I don’t think you’d want to, it does look quite fantastic.”

Soon enough, the two of them forgot that they really weren’t alone in the pool, and were play fighting and splashing each other, until the Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and pressed it against his chest. He held her about the waist with his other hand, and they were suddenly so close that Rose gasped in surprise. 

He was close to her, very close, and she was about to lose her mind with the way it was intoxicating her.  He was breathing hard, which wasn’t usual for him, and watched her eyes carefully, like he was waiting for her to push him away and protest her touch, even though he was the one holding her firmly.

She was growing bold, feeling as though this might be it, the one time they would step right over the line of their friendship to make it something more brilliant and free.  No more walking on egg shells, no more horrible awkward moments after hugs that would be filed as ‘too long’.  

He leaned a little closer to her, his fringe, slightly dripping, brushing her forehead.  His eyes were hooded, like they were about ready to drop closed.  She tipped her chin up, just waiting for him to come close and kiss her.  That had to be what this was, right?  He had to kiss her, after all this, after all the wanting she knew that both of them had been thinking about. She knew she couldn’t be the only one, not after all this.  

“Doctor-”

“Rose! Doctor! Hi!”

The Doctor pulled away from her and looked up at Caroline and Arnold, who were coming into the pool area with Andrew.  Rose almost screamed in frustration. How was  _ that  _ fair?  She wanted to tell them to leave and tackle the Doctor back into the pool.  However, she had to pretend like she was going to be nice to them, even if seeing them at every turn was starting to be dreadfully annoying.

“Hello,” Rose said while the Doctor was still recovering. “Are you coming for a swim?”

“Well, we’re here to read,” Caroline held up her book. “Andrew said he wanted to swim, and well, we hadn’t been to the pool yet, so we decided to come along.”

“Of course Andrew wanted to come along,” the Doctor grumbled under his breath, where Rose could barely hear it.

“Oh, right,’ Rose said, forcing a smile.  “Not a lot of people in here, though.”

“That’s alright,” Andrew said, taking his shirt off.  He was much more built than Doctor, and she heard him grumbling behind her about how there were better things to do than work out all the time.  “At least I know the two of you.”

Rose was beyond surprised when the Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist.  “Yeah, you do know us,” he said, holding her closer to his side.  “How has your day been.”

“Good, so far,” Andrew said, and got under the water, coming back up and shaking his hair out.  It was obvious that he was trying to impress Rose, and the Doctor’s fingers tightened into her waist.  

“What is your problem?” She whispered to him, and he looked at her innocently, as though he had no idea what he was talking about.  He grinned at her, pretending like she hadn’t said anything at all.

“Nice to see you both,” Andrew said, smiling winningly at them.  

“Yeah, though, we’ve just saw you at breakfast,” the Doctor said, smiling as though nothing was amiss.

Rose was, for the second time in her life, stricken by the thought that you could simply smell testosterone.  She could  _ definitely  _ smell it.  The two men were clearly vying for her attention right in front of her.  She was positively disgusted and she’d had enough.  She pried the Doctor’s fingers off of her.  If he wasn’t going to actually  _ do  _ anything to warrent that jealousy, he could sod off.  

“Think I’m gonna go dry off,’ she said, “you two can just stay in here for a bit if you want.”

“Rose-”

She cut the Doctor off with a look.  “I’ll be right up there if you want to come talk to me.”  She pulled herself out at the side of the pool, not having the patience to go all the way to the steps at the beginning of the pool.  

She moved hers and the Doctor’s things next to Caroline’s chair and sat down, sighing.  She wrapped a towel around herself, suddenly feeling violated wearing a bikini.

“He’s a bit jealous,” Caroline smiled at her, a little sympathetically.  “Your husband, I mean.”

“Yeah, he sure is,” Rose said, pursing her lips.  “It gets… It’s a little much sometimes, like he doesn’t know we’re married or something.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Caroline whispered, “Sometimes I feel like Arnold thinks that he owns me and not like we’re married.  You know what I mean?”

Rose laughed. “Yeah. I do.”

The two women chatted for a bit and were hardly aware of the conversation going on in the pool.

“So, you’ve been flirting with my wife this whole time we’ve been on this cruise,” The Doctor said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Andrew blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, “She’s married, to you… And she seems very happy.”

“Probably because she  _ is  _ very happy,’ The Doctor said, “And I know she’s lovely, I’ve seen loads of men flirt with her. You aren’t the first.”

Andrew smiled a little. “Look, if she wanted to flirt with me, she would.  But either way, the two of you are attached at the hip, so even if she wanted to, I don’t think that she would.”

“So you’ve admitted to it.” The Doctor seemed terribly annoyed by the whole situation, really.

“I will admit that I find your wife attractive,’ Andrew said, “But lots of women are attractive.  I’ve never seen a woman like her, though.”

“You’re being very bloody obvious, and I don’t appreciate it,” the Doctor said blandly, like he wasn’t bothered by it at all.”  He moved to get out of the pool, knowing he was going to barely be able to control himself if the opportunity to fight Andrew arose.  

He sat down next to Rose and she didn’t acknowledge him until a sudden tremor rocked the boat.  She turned to him then, all anger forgotten.

“Doctor?”  
“Rose, put your clothes on, we’re going on deck,” the Doctor said, pulling his own suit out of Rose’s ‘just in case’ bag, which she would flaunt at him later for her preparedness.

“It was probably just a wave,” Arnold said, looking up from his book for the first time, “Don't’ worry about it.”

Another tremor passed through with a flash of light, and Rose got dress hurriedly.  The Doctor only managed to get on his t-shirt and oxford before Rose slung their bag over her shoulder and ran towards the entrance of the pool. The Doctor followed close behind, catching up to her in a matter of minutes. Andrew followed behind them, seemingly more curious than Caroline and Arnold, who still sat in their pool chairs. 

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and tugged her up to the deck. Lightning was playing across the sky, though there had been no sign of a storm that morning or the night before.  The Doctor checked his extra senses, cursing himself for forgetting to do anything to check them that morning, or even last night.  He had been so distracted by this trip with Rose that he had let his guard down.

He could beat himself up about it later, though. He heard Rose say his name and looked at her.

“This is it, isn’t it?” she said, “The Triangle?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said softly, “They reached it before I thought we would, I didn’t think the boat moved this fast.”

The lightning turned red as the streaks of it continued to light the sky angrily, seeming to fight against the boat.  The ship shook violently and Rose and the Doctor grabbed the railing as they were shaken.  The Doctor pulled Rose against him with one arm and planted his feet, watching the sky.

“I’ve never seen anything like this!” Rose shouted over the panic that was starting to rise on deck, her eyes wide.

“Me neither,” the Doctor admitted.

Rose looked at him with fear in her eyes.  She thought this might be a it familiar to him, but no.  

The lightning continued, turning deeper and deeper until it was blood red, shocking the water around them.  This was not how regular lightening worked, Rose realized, as they were creating splashes where they struck. 

The boat rocked and the lightning grew closer and the sky grew almost black with darkness. Rose screamed and ducked her head as she saw what was coming.

The Doctor tucked her into her chest as he noticed it as well, and the center of the ship was struck by lightning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please review?


	7. Chapter 7

Rose closed her eyes and buried her head further into the Doctor’s chest, not wanting to get hurt.  She held him tight around the waist and felt him press his face into her hair.  Lightening rocked the boat, and the Doctor gripped tighter to the rail with his free hand, trying to keep the two of them from toppling over.  

It seemed to last forever.  People were crying out in confusion and holding onto each other.  It was clear that nobody knew what was going on at all.  Rose wasn’t even sure she knew, though she certainly had an idea.  It had to be the Bermuda Triangle that she had been thinking it would be.  

The Doctor held her against him so tightly that she was finding it difficult to expand her ribs to breathe.  He seemed a bit afraid that she’d fall over and hit the deck, leaving him upright.  She wanted to tilt her head up to look at him, but he nudged her with his chin so she had to keep pressed against him.

She opened her eyes to look at the sky, seeing it change colors over and over until it finally settled on red and lightning exploded through the whole sky, the sound deafening and rocking the whole boat.  Light engulfed everything and shook the boat terribly, almost vibrating it.  Rose blacked out immediately, the last thing she heard being the screams of the people around her.

Rose woke up disoriented and not sure what time she had fallen asleep and not sure where she was.  She was sprawled on top of the Doctor, with her head on his chest and feeling a throbbing in her elbow, like she’d possibly hit it on the way down.  She pulled up and sat back on her heels next to him.  He was knocked out, which was really quite strange for the Doctor.  Worried, she leaned forwards and touched his cheek.

“Doctor?” She whispered, patting his cheek.  “Wake up.”

She heard a groan from next to her and looked over to see Andrew sitting up and holding his head.  Rose shook her head and turned back to the Doctor, less than concerned about how Andrew was getting on.

“Doctor, please wake up,” Rose patted his cheek harder, until he shot awake with a gasp, reminding her of their day in the fifties.

He looked up at her and smiled at her.  “Hello.”

“Why do you have to do that?” She asked, throwing herself at him to wrap her arms around his neck.  He chuckled and patted her back.  

“I don’t do it on purpose,” he said, “Didn’t really anticipate it, really.  I hit my head,” he explained.

“Are you sure you’re okay? She asked, pulling away from him and staring at him. “You don’t have a concussion?”

“Superior biology,” he said softly, so that Andrew wouldn’t hear. 

Rose smiled a little and nodded.  Andrew turned towards them and rubbed his forehead. 

“Are you guys alright?” He said, staring at Rose and not even glancing at the Doctor.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” the Doctor said, glaring at Andrew.

Rose was starting to get a little uncomfortable with the way that Andrew looked at her, and how he spoke to her when she was with the Doctor.  Lucky for her, she was always with the Doctor.  

Rose cupped the Doctor’s cheek, trying to get his attention back on her.  He smiled a little apologetically and bounced to his feet, tugging her up with him.  “Alright then, let’s see where we are, shall we?”

“We’re still on the boat,” Andrew said, “We haven’t gone anywhere.”  He pulled himself to his feet and brushed himself off.

“Well, you see, Andrew, the boat can move,” The Doctor said, “Therefore, we go somewhere!”  He grinned at Andrew and took Rose’s hand, tugging her up the deck. Rose followed him a bit blindly, not sure quite what he was going for.  

The sky was a different color than it had been during the lightning storm.  The sky had no clouds, and was almost pure white.  It was dark enough that she could still look up at the sky, but not without squinting.  

The Doctor seemed to be a bit irritated, and so he didn’t seem to notice anything at all, so Rose jostled his shoulder. 

“Hey, look at the sky,” She said softly.

“And look, we’re on an island,” the Doctor said, after looking up at the sky and then pointing out over the boat at the little wooded island that sat just outside the boat.  It seemed like they had wrecked the boat, but there wasn’t any damage to the boat.

As other people started to wake up, Rose realized that people had been passed out.  She breathed out a sigh. “I thought it was just us that passed out,” she said softly.  “Because we were by the rail.  You know?”

The Doctor furrowed his brows, seemingly forgetting about Andrew for the time being.  “Oh,” he said, “Spot on, Rose Tyler.”  He squeezed her hand and smiled down at her. “I think someone wanted all of us asleep for our arrival here.  But why?”

“I thought you were the genius,” Rose said, nudging him again.

“Sometimes you’re the genius here, Rose,” he said, smiling a little.  “Here, let’s get off the boat and do a bit of exploring?” He said.

Rose halted quickly.  “Wha- wait, don’t you think we should check and see what’s going on before we just traipse on down there?” Rose asked, tugging on him a little to keep him from moving any further.

“I don’t think we need to do that, Rose, I’ve got my sonic.”

“Doctor, you’re not very good at checking anything out before we go at it,” she said, “And maybe we should this time.”

“You usually aren’t too nervous about this sort of thing,” The Doctor said, eyeing Rose carefully. “What’s going on with you?”

“I want us to be safe,” Rose said simply, “And we don’t know anything about this. I know I wanted to come here, but I don’t want to lose you through this.  I really don’t.”

He smiled a little.  “Okay.  Let’s tread carefully, then.  But we’ll still have to go down onto the island.”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, of course, we couldn’t just stay up here, now could we?” She felt a little nervous and she had a feeling that the Doctor could tell and just wasn’t going to say anything about it because he was too kind.

“Okay, come on.”

Caroline and Arnold ran up to them then, Caroline wearing a coverup over her swimsuit and Arnold in a t-shirt and trunks.    They looked terribly afraid.  “Rose, Doctor, what’s going on?” Caroline asked, anxiety written all over her features.  

“We don’t know,” The Doctor said, “We’re going down to the island.”

“I’m going, too,” Andrew said, coming up on the other side of Rose. Rose had to hold back a disgusted sigh.

“Yeah, well, stay close to Caroline and Arnold, because we have to investigate this first. We’re a little more well versed in unknown territories, if you’ll remember,” The Doctor said, and started leading Rose away from the three of them, before crying out “oh!” and turning abck to the people who were waking up.

“Hello, everyone!” The Doctor waved his hand. “We are in unknown territory, as you may or may not know,” he tugged on his ear with his free hand. “Um, I would like you all to stay on board, and in your cabins, if you please.  We don’t know what it is, and we are the most professional people to do this.” 

He flashed the psychic paper and the people who could read it started murmuring and stood back from the Doctor and Rose, seeming to be willing to let the Doctor and Rose take over.  

The Doctor tugged her alone by one hand and led her to the best part of the boat to get out of. It was a bit difficult to get out, especially with the Doctor’s frustration at the fact that people had decided to tag along with them.  He was used to it just being him and Rose, and he really,  _ really  _ preferred when it was just him and Rose.

He sighed angrily and squeezed Rose’s hand a little harder.

“Are you alright?” Rose asked him.

“Just fine,” the Doctor said, almost through gritted teeth.  “Why are you worried?”

“Because you’re acting weird,” Rose said, “You seem a little angry, didn’t you notice?” She asked, furrowing her brows at him.

“I’m not angry,” the Doctor said, “Not at all. I don’t typically get angry, you know that.”

“You’re a bit of a liar,” Rose said, smiling so that he would know that she was at least teasing a little bit.

The walked onto the island.  Immediately, Rose knew that things felt a little weird.  It was really odd, the way the sand felt.  It felt more like cotton than any sand that she’d ever felt, and she bent down to touch it. 

“Doctor, this doesn't feel right,” she said, feeling as though she should let him in on it as soon as possible, since his observation skills seemed to be severely low at the moment.  “It really feels weird.”

The Doctor ducked down and touched the sand as well.  He lifted his hand to his mouth.

“Hey! No!” Rose pointed at him.

“What?”

“Do not eat that!”

“I’m not- I’m just  _ tasting.” _

__ “Do  _ not-” _

The Doctor looked her in the eye and licked the sand, grinning a little when she groaned in anguish at his actions.  He smacked his lips and dropped the rest of the sand back onto the ground. 

“It doesn’t taste like anything.”

“Bloody brilliant, Doctor,” she said, throwing her arms up. “So what does that tell us?”

He pulled out his sonic and started to scan the sand. 

“Do you know what’s going on now?” Andrew asked from over the Doctor’s shoulder. 

“No, obviously not,” Rose said, peering up at him. “We’ve only been here about a minute, Andrew.  You didn’t have to come with us.” She didn’t mean to snap at him, but he was getting on her nerves.  He was impossibly unnerving, and kept getting in her face, and Rose was a fan of personal space (unless it was the Doctor getting in her personal space).

“Rose, I just want to help,” Andrew said softly, staring at her as though he couldn’t believe that she had just snapped at him.  It reminded her of a man who would get offended when a woman rejected him, like he expected her to be honored that he was showing her any attention at all.

“Well, let’s keep moving while the sonic is running that scan,” he said, getting up and brushing the sand off his trousers.  “Come on, then,” he took Rose’s hand again and tugged her into his side with a glare over his shoulder at Andrew.  “There’s some woods up here, let’s go.”

Rose noticed that when they were all walking, that the silence was more than any normal silence.  There was no sound of the waves hitting the sand, or any breeze rustling the trees.  There was  _ nothing.  _ Rose chewed her bottom lip and stared around at the island. There was motion, yes… But no sound to go with them.  Not even a sound of a bug chirping.

All of it made her skin crawl, really.  She wasn’t sure what was going on, exactly, but she knew that it was wrong, and that was enough for her hackles to rise a bit in defense.  

“Listen,” She said to the Doctor.

The Doctor arched an eyebrow at her and she nodded at him.  He cocked his head and furrowed his brows. “Nothing,” he said.

“Exactly. Why nothing?” She asked, waiting for it to hit him.

The Doctor stomped on a stick in his path.  It made a sound, so there certainly was  _ sound  _ here.  

“Hm,” he said, “I don’t know… That’s interesting,” he said, and continued walking.

“So that’s not enough to make you want to scan it?” Rose prompted, having to trot a little faster to keep up with him.

“The sonic is already running a scan,” he told her, “You know, the sonic can only run one scan at a time.”

Rose grumbled a little, something about the fact that the Doctor should have updated his screwdriver if he’d had it for almost a millenia.  The Doctor heard her, of course, and just grinned at her happily.  She wondered if she had ever done anything to annoy him, the way he was smiling at her.  

As they walked into the forest, the group didn’t even notice that they were being watched by something even deeper in the woods.


	8. Chapter 8

They walked through the woods for what felt like ages, but the sun never set.  Come to think of it, Rose didn’t see a sun when she looked up into the sky.  She took his hand and squeezed it a little. “Is there no sun here?” She whispered, not wanting to alarm the civilians behind them.

The Doctor looked up into the sky, squinting at the color. “Huh,” he said.  “No, I don’t see one.  The light must be artificial.”

“Wait,” Rose stopped walking, and so did everyone else. “So you, wait, so we’re on a different world now, right?”

“I would assume so,” the Doctor admitted, “We’re certainly not where we used to be.”  
“So you can artificially light a whole world?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“If you have the technology,” the Doctor nodded, “And I suppose we’ll have to assume that these people have the technology.”

“What people?” Andrew said, “I don’t think we’ve seen any people, have we, Doctor?”

‘I don’t really need your sass,” The Doctor said with a smile on his face.  “And Rose and I are the experts here, so really, I don’t think  _ you  _ are the one to be asking me questions. And no, we haven’t seen any people or otherwise, and maybe we’ll find some, but we don’t know that just now.  We’re going to keep walking.  Thank you for the observation, Rose.  Let’s go.”  He turned and tugged Rose’s hand. Rose was very surprised that he was acting this way, though she supposed it was good that he was.  Andrew as clearly trying to push his buttons.

“Doctor, you’re a bit wound up,” she said softly.

He looked to her. “I am not!”

She smiled. “You are.”

The Doctor wrinkled his nose at her. “I don’t know why you always think I’m being rude or wound up when I’m just protecting you.’

She tilted her head briefly onto his shoulder. “Well, thanks for protecting me, I guess.”

“You guess?” The Doctor sputtered. “Okay, fine, fine.  I’ll take it.”

“Good,” Rose said.  She stopped talking just so she could listen to the people behind them.

“I don’t think the Doctor likes you very much,” Caroline said softly, “Maybe you should stop trying to irritate him.”

Andrew grumbled a little. “I didn’t  _ try  _ to irritate him, he just is very… Irritatable.”

“I don’t irritate him,” Arnold said.

“Yeah, cause you’re married. He’s just not secure in his relationship with Rose.” Andrew said, and Rose heard him kick a rock.

Rose wondered if he was trying to wind the Doctor up, despite was he was saying.  He was sure that there was nothing about her relationship with the Doctor that would make him feel insecure about their fake relationship.  She also wondered if he could hear what they were saying behind him, because the angry dimple in his cheek was starting to stick out.

She smiled a little. She wished she knew what he was thinking half the time, but it was terribly hard to even know what he was thinking when he spoke.  She looked up at him until he looked back down at her and furrowed his brows.

“What?” He asked. 

“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head.

He looked behind him and then leaned over to kiss her temple.  She nearly rolled her eyes, and would have done if she wasn’t enjoying the attention so much.  He hadn’t been this protective since his ninth self.  Well, of course, he’d been protective before, but this was a sort of possessiveness that she hadn’t seen from him in ages, and if she was honest, she had really missed it.

The woods dragged on forever and ever, or so it seemed.  Everything looked the same, and Rose could only hope that somebody was able to track where they were going, because she sure couldn’t.  She chewed on her bottom lip and glanced around.  There had to be something different.  

“Everybody stop!” Rose said.

The people stopped, suddenly going very still.  If only sound made by humans was registered here, they just had to be quiet and wait for someone to make sound. They couldn’t be alone, not if the whole ship was brought here for a moment.  It had to be something, there had to be a reason to bring them here.  

The Doctor looked at Rose curiously, clearly not knowing what was going on.  But he trusted her, so he didn’t say a word, just kept a hold on her hand as they listened.  Rose heard a twig snap and cried out with excitement before taking off into the woods, to the left of where they had been walking before.  Every few feet she stopped, waiting for something else to make nose. She was leading the group now, and she could tell that Caroline and Arnold were growing tired, though somehow, Andrew was keeping up fairly well.

“Hello?” Rose called out, “We’re your friends.  I’m Rose, we just want to know why we’re here?  What’s going on?  We were on a ship, and now it’s sort of stranded here. There was  big storm?”  
There was quiet, and a couple of sticks snapping.  Rose breathed out a sigh of relief as the sounds continued towards them.

“I”m with some people, but if you called us here, we can help, alright, just come out and we can have a chat, yeah?”

The Doctor was too busy staring at Rose with blatant admiration to notice that someone had emerged from the woods. It was a little girl in a white dress.  She had dark hair and wide worried eyes.

“Hello, sweetheart, are you lost?” Rose bent down and the Doctor squatted next to her.  

“I’m not lost,” she said, shaking her head.

“No?” The Doctor asked. “Then where’s your family?”

“Would you like to meet them?” The little girl asked, changing her focus to the Doctor.  “You know, it’s probably best that you talk to them, if you need some help.”

Rose was a little taken aback by the little girl’s language, as it was a little too advanced for her to feel comfortable. “If you could take us to meet them, that would be nice,” Rose said softly, “We want to know why we’re here.”

The little girl nodded. “Follow me,” she said, waving for the group to follow them. Rose and the Doctor stood and started to follow the girl.  Caroline came up next to Rose and took her arm, peering around.

“I have to admit, this is a bit off,” she whispered, “We don’t know this girl, so I don’t know.. Um, I just don’t know if we should follow a random little girl.”  She looked to Rose with a bit of anxiety in her eyes. 

Rose shook her head. “Well, we don’t know her either, but I think she’s the only shot we’ve got so far, so we should probably just get going, then,” Rose smiled, “Don’t worry, even if something goes wrong, I trust the Doctor.  He can fix anything.”

“Do things go wrong with the two of you a lot?” Caroline asked, drawing her brows together.

Rose smiled. “More than you could possibly imagine, but it’s really just fine.  We’re used to it, we’re travellers.”

“Did you know that something was going to happen here?” Arnold asked, joining the group.  “Trouble?”

The Doctor looked to Rose and arched his eyebrow.  Then finally, after looking at her face, which looked very guilty, he responded for her.  “We had a suspicion, but we know from experience that if we bring it up to the people who work the cruise, they’d think we were barmy.”

“So that’s why you packed clothes in your pool bag,” Andrew said. “Are the two of you even really married.”

“We’re very married,” the Doctor sniffed and turned his head.  “Not that that’s the part that’s any of your business.  I think you have bigger things to worry about at the moment, like the fact that we’re in an unknown forest where there’s barely any sound and no sun.” He turned back, dutifully ignoring them.  Rose shrugged and smiled at the others.  Andrew narrowed his eyes.

“We work better as a team,” Rose said, “And this is no different.”

The little girl turned again and gestured with her hand. “Come on.’

“We’re right behind you, dear,” the Doctor said, and looked to Rose. “She’s a bit odd,” he said softly.

“I know,” Rose said, ‘Look at her eyes.”

“What about them?”

“They’re like…” She shook her head. “They’re dead… Empty.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “We’ll wait for her to look at us again, I want to see what you mean.”

The walk grew quiet, and Rose let her mind start to wander. She wondered, for instance, why the little girl hadn’t run when Rose had called out to her.  Weren’t children taught not to come up to strangers?  She was, at least. Though, she supposed this world must be a little different, since there didn’t seem to be any civilization.

Rose brought her thumbnail to her mouth and bit it. The Doctor, increasingly annoyed by this behavior, and had told her so on numerous occasions, reached over and took her hand from her mouth. “We’ll be fine,” he said softly. 

She smiled a little. She wasn’t so sure, but it was probably best to let the Doctor have his confidence at this particular moment in time. He didn’t seem nervous and he had thirty more senses than she did, so maybe they were completely safe and she just didn’t know at the moment.  But something about a little girl in a white dress was a little odd.

Finally, they stopped in front of a cave.  The whole group grew quiet, listening for noise of any kind.  None came, making Rose notice that maybe this little girl was alone. There was no one making sound inside the cave.

“Follow me,” the little girl said.

“In-into the cave?” Caroline asked, pointing into the darkness.

“Yes,” the little girl nodded. “My family is in there.”

Rose opened and closed her mouth.  “I don’t know, why don’t you bring your family out here?” she asked.  

“You have to come in,” the little girl insisted. “Please, come in.”

“Bring them out here, please,” the Doctor said softly.  “We’d like to stay outside.  We’ve never been here before, you know, it just feels safer for us.”

The little girl narrowed her eyes and then screamed, vanishing into a cloud of smoke.  Rose stepped back into the Doctor, whose mouth had dropped open in shock.  

“What was that?” Caroline demanded, her voice wavering. Arnold had his arm around her, trying to keep her safe, Rose supposed, but if something wanted to get them, the man would not stand in the way.  

“She’s gone,” Andrew said softly. “What’s going on, where did she go?”

The Doctor pulled out his sonic. “Okay, here, our scan is done on the sand,” he said.  He narrowed his eyes.  “Look, nothing,” he said softly, “There’s no trace of this sand anywhere but here. The TARDIS database, where the sonic is linked, doesn’t read anything.  This sand shouldn’t exist.”

“Then why does it?” Rose asked.

The Doctor winked at her. “That’s what we have to figure out,  _ dear.” _

She giggled. “So shall we go into the cave?”  
“With the sonic as a flashlight.”  The Doctor adjusted the settings a little wildly and then pointed the screwdriver in front of him.  The light was much stronger now than it usually was when the Doctor used it for everyday use.  “You three can stay out here.”

“No, I want to come in,” Andrew said, “I think we all want to come in with you both. We came through all these woods, after all.”

“Okay,” Rose said, not in the mood to fight. “I don’t want to argue, but you can’t blame us if you get hurt, got it?”

Andrew blinked and nodded.  He seemed surprised that Rose snapped at him, but it didn’t seem to stop him from wanting to come with them.  Caroline stepped up as well.

“I wouldn’t feel safe out here,” she admitted, “You know, out here in the woods.”

“You would literally only hear if something was coming,” the Doctor said blandly.  “It’s really safer for you out here.”

Caroline looked to Arnold. “I don’t know…”

“Okay, you can turn back at any time,” Rose said, “But if you want to come with us, I won't’ stop you. Okay?”

Caroline smiled, seeming a little bit encouraged by Rose’s words. “Okay.”

Rose smiled and turned back to the cave.  “Let’s go, okay?”

The group headed into the cave, and The Doctor drew Rose against him. “You’re too nice.” he said softly.

“Someone has to be,” she told him, and they headed into the darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

They walked together into the cave, the blue light of the sonic lighting the cave.  Rose stayed close to the Doctor, Andrew stayed close to Rose, and Caroline and Arnold had their arms wrapped around each other and were staring around into the darkness. Rose threaded her arm through the Doctor’s and squeezed a little closer to him.

“Can you see?” He asked.

“Not as well as you,” Rose said, smiling at him. She knew his eyesight was far better than hers, and she saw that his pupils were blown wide, taking in as much of the cave as they could.  

“Well, no one can see as good as me.”  The Doctor said proudly, looking away from her and back in front of them.  The group continued on in silence, the only sound being their feet on the cave floor.  It seemed that the cave was wet, but there was no sound besides their footsteps. Rose shuffled through possibilities in her mind, deciding that it must be the whole idea of the only sound being the ones that people made.

“Hang on,” she said to the Doctor. “That little girl, she was a ghost.”

“No, ghosts aren’t real,” the Doctor replied, sounding bored, like he was ready to argue with her about it, which he probably was.

“But she just puffed up in smoke,” Rose protested, “That’s something ghosts do.”

“You puffed up in dust on Satellite Five,” The Doctor pointed out, “And you were just transferred, not killed.”

“You really aren’t going to humor me on this, are you?” Rose asked, “Not even the idea of it?”

“Rose, really,” the Doctor sighed, “I know you want to believe in ghosts, though  _ why  _ you do I can’t really figure out, and it’s not my business to ask.  But they aren’t real. It’s just not possible.”

“Or it’s something you just haven’t seen yet.”

“You aren’t a very supportive husband, Doctor,” Andrew said, from next to Rose.  Both of them had quite forgotten about him, but he kept talking, “Maybe ghosts are real.  None of us really know for certain.”

“I know,” The Doctor said firmly, “And I think I should tell you once again that our relationship is none of your business.”

“I get the distinct impression that you don’t like me very much,” Andrew said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Rose rolled her eyes. This whole ‘alpha male’ act was getting old, and she knew from experience that it was going to have to come to a head before it stopped, so she might as well just let it roll.  She had the Doctor with her, after all, so she felt perfectly safe.

“Andrew, just stop!” Caroline said, “I don’t know why you’re provoking the only person who knows what he’s doing, but you’d better just stop.  You are being incredibly inappropriate.”

“I have to agree,” Rose said, feeling a little guilty, but not wanting him to think that she thought his behavior was alright.  

“You, Rose?” Andrew asked, surprised, and Rose imagined that his eyebrows were shooting up towards his hairline in confusion. “I thought you liked me.”

“I’m friendly,” Rose said, “Please don’t get that confused with anything else,” she noticed the Doctor’s arm tightening, pulling her tighter against him.

Andrew huffed and fell back in step with Caroline and Arnold, clearly not wanting to be around Rose anymore now that she turned him down. She breathed out a sigh of relief and the Doctor’s posture relaxed slightly as well.

“Nicely done,” the Doctor whispered.

“Thanks.”

The Doctor stopped suddenly and tugged Rose against him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.  He flashed the sonic around and then pointed it down into a hole, humming a little.  “That’s interesting.”

Arnold came up next to the Doctor, pushing his wife behind him and peering into the hole.  “What do you think is down there?” he asked softly.

The Doctor shook his head. “For one of the first times in my life, I have to say that I am completely gobsmacked.”

“So you don’t know what’s in there?”  
“I haven’t the foggiest, no.” the Doctor admitted.  “I think we should check it out, though.” He crouched down and looked more closely down into the hole.  He ran his finger around the rim closest to his feet.  “Manmade,” he said. “Or, you know, alienmade.”

“You think there are aliens here?” Caroline whispered.

The Doctor looked at Rose and winked, making her bite her lip to keep from laughing. She shook her head and looked away from him.   
After a moment, the Doctor put the sonic in his teeth and whipped out his glasses, putting them on.  He took his sonic back and flashed it around.  

“How deep do you think it is?” Andrew asked.  
“Jump in and find out,” The Doctor mumbled. 

Rose smacked him on the shoulder. 

The Doctor started to dig around in his pockets, clearly looking for something.  He pulled a pebble out of his pocket and threw it into the hole.  When it hit the ground, the Doctor shrugged. “It’s about ten feet deep,” he said.  “Come here, Rose.”

She squatted down next to him.  “Are we headed down, then?” 

“I’d like to go down, yeah,” he nodded, “See what’s down there.”

Rose nodded.  “Yeah.”

“We’re coming too,” Arnold said, “We’ve come too far to let the two of you go alone,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.  

Rose nodded, “If you want,” she said, “It’s up to you, and we really can’t stop you, can we?”

“No, I suppose you can’t,” Caroline said. 

“You are much braver than some of the people we’ve met,” the Doctor said, taking his specs off and putting them in his inside jacket pocket.  “Come on, let’s go. Me first.”

Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “The both of us first.”

“No, I’m not putting you in danger,” he said, “Not any more than I have to, okay?” his eyes were pleading with her, and what she could see in the dark almost made her agree with him.  But she knew that he would be in just as much danger as she would, and he was a bit more reckless than she. 

She swung her legs over the rock ledge and looked back at the Doctor. “Well, let’s go.”

He set his jaw and regarded her carefully. “You won’t let me say no to you, will you?”

“When have I ever let you say no to me?” Rose grinned.  

The Doctor had to smile back to her.  He looked over his shoulder at Arnold. “You all wait five minutes before you come down, I don’t want you to come down straight into danger,” he said.

Rose jumped down the hole, rolling into the fall so that she didn’t hurt herself.  The Doctor landed next to her and immediately reached for her hand.  She took it and he flashed the light of the sonic around.  There was a door in the side of the tiny room they had dropped in.  Rose opened the door without waiting for permission from the Doctor, revealing a well lit hallway.

“Well,” the Doctor said, “Should we call them down?”  
Rose shook her head. “We still don’t know what’s down here,” Rose pointed out, “We don’t want them in danger. 

“You’re in danger. I’m in danger,” the Doctor pointed out.

“We also have a bit of experience with this,” Rose said, looking to the Doctor.  “They don’t.  They’re more likely to die or something.”

“‘Or something’?” the Doctor repeated, laughing.

She shrugged., “Shall we go?”

He nodded, and tilted his head back. “Don’t come down!” 

Just as he said that, someone hit the floor behind them.

“Oh, for God’s sake, what’ the point if you’re not going to listen!” The Doctor shouted, turning around to see Andrew standing up from a crouching position.  

“I want to see what’s going on,” Andrew said, “I’m here too, I want to be involved in this.”

“Fine.  Whatever, I don’t care,” the Doctor said, and Caroline and Arnold jumped down as well, making the Doctor grumble even harder.  He turned back to Rose and grabbed her hand, tugging her into the hallway, shutting the sonic off completely.  Rose kept up with him as he kept up walking quickly.

“You realize my legs aren’t as long as yours, don’t you?” Rose snapped.

He slowed his pace slightly. “Sorry,” he said apologetically.

“You are driving me bonkers today,” she said quietly, “I don’t know quite what’s going on.with you, because I haven’t seen you act like this in a very long time,” she told him, trying to look him in the face.  He wouldn’t look back to her, so she was simply met with his profile.  He shook his head.

“I’m not being different than usual,” he said.

“You are!” Rose said, pointing at him, “You’re usually nice to people that we meet.  What’s the deal?”

“You could stay,” he said softly.

“What?”

The Doctor’s voice was quiet, and Rose was the only one that could hear him when he spoke next.  “This planet is really similar to Earth,  _ really  _ similar. Enough that you don’t have your mum here…You could… With a human man-”

“Stop it. What the hell are you on about?” Rose furrowed her brows. “You always think I’m going to leave you, even if I promise to you that I’m going to stay with you forever. You just don’t believe me.”

“I’ve never believed anyone who said they were going to stay with me,” the Doctor said.

“Well I am,” Rose let go of his hand, and he grappled for it for a moment, but she crossed her arms before she could grab it back. 

Someone opened a door at the end of the hallway, and stepped out.  It looked like a man who was wearing something similar to nurse’s scrubs. The group stopped and waited for the man to approach them. 

“Hello. Do you have an appointment?” the man asked.

“What?”

“Do you have an appointment?” The man repeated, widening his eyes at them.  “You have to have an appointment to be in here. For the cure.”

“The cure for what?” Rose asked.

The man looked at Rose, his face filled with sympathy.  “Oh, dear,” he said, “You must be very far gone to have to ask that,” he said, looking downward.

“Well, assume I am ‘that far gone’ and tell us what’s going on,” Rose said, trying to make her voice gentle and having a bit of trouble doing so.  “What’s the cure for?”   
The man looked to Doctor. “Are you responsible for this sick woman?”

“I am, but she’s not sick,” the Doctor said, furrowing his brows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about either,” he said. “We’ve been brought here.”

“Oh!” The man said, “So you were brought from our shipment boat!”

“What?” Andrew stepped forward. “We were on a cruise ship, not a shipment boat.”  He put his hands on his hips, clearly trying to look threatening.  “I’d like to know what you mean by calling us a ‘shipment’.”

The nurse shook his head. “You all must come with me, regardless of whether or not you have an appointment. Come along.”

“You haven’t answered,” the Doctor said, “Who is this appointment for?  Who would we be seeing?”  
“The Doctor, of course,” the nurse said.

“No,” Caroline said, pointing at the Doctor, “He’s the Doctor.”

“Oh, so we have two Doctors.  Come with me, sir,” the nurse said, trying to get the Doctor to follow along behind him.  He looked to Rose.

“No, I have to bring all my… People with me.  If I go with you, that is. I must have them with me.”  He rocked back on his heels. “And then you can explain to us exactly what is going on here.  Since I’m a Doctor, you must answer to me, right?”

“I’ll have to ask the other Doctor,” the nurse said, stumbling over his words a bit.  

The Doctor looked as though he really wanted to reach for Rose again, but she still didn’t look agreeable to holding his hand, so he sighed a little and looked back to the nurse. “Well, can you take us to see the other Doctor please?” He said. 

“I- I suppose. But I don’t like…. I don’t…. The Doctor doesn’t like visitors,” he said. 

The Doctor nodded. “And I think you’ll find that I don’t care,” he said,  and gestured out in front of him. “Let’s get going.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will say right now that this chapter is a lot, and it is meant to be a little disorienting, but if anyone has any questions, please let me know. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Rose let him lead her, because for some reason he seemed like he needed to be guiding her to make himself feel comfortable or something. He kept looking over his shoulder at Andrew several times, until Rose reached over and smacked his chest.

“Really?” she said, “You’re being so jealous.”

“I’m not.”

“And you have no right to be jealous,” she said, taking her hand from him and crossing her arms over her chest.  

He scowled at her, obviously not expecting that to be her response.  He was probably expecting her to be glad that he had been protective of her. But honestly, she was growing sick of it, especially since she knew there would never be any follow through on it.  The Doctor was all talk and no action when it came to her, and she was getting sick of it.  She wasn’t going to pursue Andrew, and she’d been plenty obvious about that, but it seemed that he didn’t care.  He really didn’t.  She was nothing to him except a distraction, and she knew that.  

She rubbed her nose and looked back to the nurse, falling in step with the nervous man.  

“So, the doctor that you were talking about…. Why doesn't he like visitors?”

‘I don’t know,” the nurse said, giving her a quick glance but not looking at her for very long.  “Well, he’s not told anyone who works for him why…. He just doesn’t like people.  And he doesn’t want anyone to see what he’s working on.”

“What’s he working on?” Rose asked, ‘leaning towards the nurse, getting more interested by the moment.  A mysterious doctor, working on something he doesn’t want anyone to touch?  That made it sound very evil-scienc-y, and Rose was very intrigued.  

The nurse looked at her nervously. “Um.  Um., he won’t say,” the nurse said. “Right this way, we’ll show you to the waiting room.”

Rose decided it would be best to not ask the nurse any more questions, as he looked so nervous he might explode and he was sweating.  Whoever this doctor was, the nurse was afraid of them.  Rose wanted to know more, but she didn’t want to cause a nervous breakdown.  

And so they walked in silence until they made their way to a plain grey door.  The nurse let them in, and the Doctor stepped back up to be beside Rose, clearly tiring of being without her.  The room was a regular old standard waiting room, except with no magazines or any posters, like most doctor’s offices had.  It was eerie in how simple it was.  There was no music playing, no one sitting at what would have been the check in desk in a normal office.  It looked, for all intents and purposes, abandoned, besides the fact that it was clean.

She walked sat down in one of the plain, hard blue chairs and he sat next to her.  He looked as though he might want to reach for her hand but instead he laced his fingers together in his lap.

“Are you still mad?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Oh,” he looked down, “I suppose I should apologize?”

“Or we could just talk about it later?” Rose asked pleadingly.  She didn’t want to go into it right now, honestly, especially not with him, and with Andrew so close by.  It would just cause another incident and she was ready to be done with the whole thing.  She was tired of him being possessive and jealous when he wouldn’t do anything to follow it through.  She scrubbed her hands over her face and nearly groaned when Andrew sat on her other side.  

Without even looking at him, she turned to the nurse, who was headed to another door.  “When will the doctor see us?”

“When he sees fit,” the nurse said, “Don’t worry about it.”

Rose sighed and looked down at her knees. This had seemed like such a lark when they’d started on it.  She wondered if the Doctor was feeling any sort of regret, or if he just wanted to apologize so that he could hold her hand again. She wouldn’t put it past him, honestly.

But what she didn't know was that the Doctor was feeling quite distraught by this.  He often felt as though Rose was slipping through his fingers, and this was one of those moments. He didn’t mean to irritate her with his actions, but he knew that he was probably being too much.  He looked to her, but she wouldn’t look back at him.  She had said she wanted to talk about it later, probably because the Doctor never brought up  _ anything  _ that happened between them during their adventures. They never talked about the kiss on New Earth, or the kiss in Rome, and so Rose was probably (definitely) assuming that he would never bring it up.

But he would.  He told himself firmly that he would.

Caroline was sitting across from Rose and fidgeting quite spectacularly.  “Maybe we should’ve stayed on the ship,” she said to her husband.  “I can’t- I’m afraid.”

Arnold took her hand and looked at her fondly, “I’ll look out for you, Caroline, you don’t have to worry about anything.”

Rose sniffed and looked away.

The nurse was gone for a little bit, ten minutes at the most, and came out almost drenched in sweat. He wiped his forehead and looked around the room at everyone.  “The doctor will see you now.  All of you.”

Rose furrowed her brows and got to her feet.  Everyone seemed to follow Rose’s lead, and the Doctor stayed close to Rose. She tried not to glare at him, because she knew that he wasn’t meaning any harm with the way he was acting.  She wondered why she was reacting so strongly to all of this.  

The nurse led them down another plain hallway to a conference room instead of an examination room. Rose turned to the nurse, a little confused. 

“Why did you bring us in here?” she asked.

“The rooms our doctor normally sees clients in is just too small for all of you, and you all seem to want to stick together.  I don’t want to get in any more trouble, I really don’t!” he said, putting his face in his hands.

Rose frowned, “This got you in trouble?”

“It might.  The doctor will be in shortly.”  The nurse disappeared, scurrying from the room.

“He’s a bit odd,” Andrew said, crossing his arms. “He makes this place a bit creepier than it should be.”

“Yeah,” Rose acknowledged, trying not to think about it.  He was odd, for sure, but there was a fear behind that, a fear of this doctor.

“And now there will be two doctors,” Andrew laughed, “A bit confusing, that, don’t you think?”

“No,” Rose replied.  Andrew came to stand next to her, since the Doctor had moved from her side to check out the room with his sonic.  

“Noticed you and your husband had a fight,” he said, “Sorry about that.”

Rose frowned. “No, you’re not.”

He smiled, having the decency to at least look sheepish about the whole thing. “I suppose I’m not,” he admitted, “You deserve better.”

“Everybody fights with their… Person,” Rose said lamely, “Doesn’t mean anything.  I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Andrew watched her for another moment, and only looked away when the door opened.  The Doctor snapped to attention and stood back with Rose. Arnold and Caroline stood together, arms linked together, and Andrew puffed his chest out a little, clearly needing to be seen or something.  

When the doctor entered the room, Rose gasped audibly, and the Doctor’s mouth dropped open. 

He looked just like Rose’s Doctor. Not the one she was with now, mind, but the one she had originally travelled with.  His eyes were as blue as Rose remembered, but there was something wrong about them.  He looked darker, and not in the way that would suggest he came from the Time War.  His close shorn hair was darker than her Doctor’s, and he wore a lab coat over a suit.  She tried to clear all her thoughts.  This was not her Doctor, no matter how much he looked like him.

“Who are you?” The Doctor demanded.

The other doctor looked at the Doctor as though he was quite bored, and his gaze drifted to Rose. “Hello,” he said, and Rose almost melted right on the spot.  This was absolutely not fair.  How was she supposed to figure out anything about this man when he was the man that she had fallen in love with?

Well, he wasn’t, but he was damn well close, and that was distracting enough.

“Hello,” she said weakly, and the doctor (lowercase in Rose’s mind simply because she knew that he wasn’t her Doctor and she could not give him that title) smiled back at her.  God, it was all so familiar. She had forgotten the way he looked at her. 

This had to be a trick, it had to be. There was no other reason for him to be looking at her like this, no other reason to speak to her directly.

“Well Rose, you certainly get around, don’t you?” Andrew said, snarkiness in his tone as he looked at the doctor.

“Shut up!” The Doctor shouted over his shoulder, and turned back to the other man. “I don’t know who you are,” he said to the man that stood before them, “But you’ve taken my face and I’d like to know who exactly you are.”

The doctor looked at Rose and back to the Doctor. “I’m sure that my nurse told you that I don’t like to be disturbed, not to mention that the lot of you don’t have an appointment.”

Rose choked on a sob and moved back to one of the chairs in the room, holding the back of it to keep herself upright.

“Miss Tyler, are you alright? You might actually need a doctor,” the doctor said, looking down at the clipboard in his hand.

‘How do you know her name?”

‘I know yours too, Doctor.  And all of you.” he looked to the rest of them.  “Arnold and Caroline, and Andrew.  But Miss Tyler seems unwell, look how pale she is.”  the doctor brushed past the Doctor (which was starting to make Rose’s brain hurt) and put his fingers on Rose’s pulse point while glancing at his watch.  

Rose thought she was going to crumble, or at least burst into tears.  She watched the man, the aquiline shape of his nose, his unfairly long eyelashes.  “You’re not my Doctor,” she said softly.  “You’re not him.”

“I don’t know who you think I am, Miss Tyler, but rest assured we have not met until today.  Your blood pressure is elevated, I suggest you take a seat.”

Rose pulled out the chair that she had been leaning on and sat down heavily.  The Doctor rushed to her side and squatted down next to her, his plimsolls squeaking against the tile floor.

“That’s not me, Rose, that’s just some sort of image. I was with you almost the entire time I was in that body, I was never here.” he was talking quickly, needing her to believe him, to understand.

“I know,” she said, but her voice was thick and shaky.  She let out a sigh and looked to the Doctor. “He looks like you.”

“I look like a lot of people,” the doctor said dismissively, blue eyes snapping, always alert.  “I just want to know what you lot are doing here.”

“We were brought here,” the Doctor said, still down next to Rose.  “We were on a cruise ship and all of a sudden we were on this island. We just want to know how we got here, what’s going on,” he said, keeping his voice steady and regarding the doctor directly. It was difficult to look directly at him, since he felt like he was looking at ghost, and he thought that Rose probably felt the same way about the whole thing.  

The doctor looked to Rose instead of the Doctor. “You know a man with my face,” he said.  “Because he’s what you want to see.”  He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, and light started to flow around him.

“No,” Rose choked out, feeling like she was watching him regenerate all over again.  

After a few moments of light completely engulfing the man, it left him suddenly, and in his place stood a young girl with short dark hair and big doe eyes. She was school age and looked right at the Doctor with a dreadfully trusting expression.  The Doctor let out a cry when he saw her.

“Doctor, who is that?” Rose asked softly, seeing the troubling expression on his face.

“That’s my granddaughter,” he said softly, “That’s Susan.”

Putting aside any anger she had with the Doctor, she reached for his hand and he squeezed her fingers tightly between his, needing her comfort.

“What’s going on here?!” Arnold demanded, “This is some sort of magic trick, isn’t it?  Or like, I don’t know, just some sort of trick of the mind?”

The Doctor shook his head.  “No, worse,” he said, “This… I’m guessing this is the little girl who led us here, and the nurse.  And the doctor.  We are dealing with a species that I’ve never seen before.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys are enjoying this story, I know it's not getting as much love as some of my other stories, but I think some of you are liking it! In the next chapter there's going to be some fluffy stuff, so don't worry! The romance is coming!

“Ghosts?” Rose whispered to the Doctor, a little in awe of the whole thing.  This had been what they were looking for, after all.

“Not ghosts,” he shook his head as he whispered back, staring at the creature.  It looked just like his granddaughter, who was in fact a ghost of his past.  He looked to Rose, whose eyes were soft as she regarded him. 

“Transformed right in front of us,” Andrew was saying from where he stood. “What’s going on here?  What are you?”

“You may not know this,” the Susan clone said, her voice lilting and sophisticated.  She looked at Rose and the Doctor.  “But these two have more skeletons in their closets than you might know about.”

“How do you know about us?” The Doctor asked, trying to shake off everything that dug into him when he saw his long gone granddaughter in front of him.  “How did you know about the  _ last  _ me, to show Rose?”

“I read all your minds when you came in,” Susan said, “I’ve been reading you this whole time.  Rose has a lot of thoughts, you know, about you, and the last you holds such a special place in her heart.”

“Stop,” Rose said, feeling suddenly hoarse. “I don’t want to see- I don’t want to see him again.”

“Don’t you?” The Susan clone looked to the Doctor, “One second, Grandfather,” she said, causing the Doctor to bury his face in his hands as the clone transformed back into the Doctor’s last self, this time with the leather and jeans that she had been so used to seeing.

“What’s going on?” Caroline asked, her voice a confused squeak.

“I don’t know,” The Doctor said into his hands.  “We don’t know yet, Caroline.”

Rose’s eyes were drawn to the clone of the man of her affections, one she had spent a year with.  Including this Doctor, the one next to her, she’d spent two and a half years with him.  She forced herself to stay seated, not wanting to look at the Doctor next to her, entranced by the one before her.  She clenched her jaw.

“This isn’t fair,” she said, “I was  _ done,”  _ she shoved her fists under her thighs.

“Rose,” the doctor said, blue eyes cutting into her like they always did.  “You and I both know that I am the only one you ever truly-”

“Enough!” Rose cried out.  “I’m not doing this with you!” She said, “I’m not going to live in the past, I’m  _ not!” _

The doctor continued to stare at her, and she bit her lip to keep herself from crying.  She felt like she needed to, out of frustration if nothing else.  Instead, she just sat with every muscle in her body taut, poised to run.

The doctor clone, her first doctor, changed again, in front of her eyes, and it always hurt.  Even though the Doctor was right next to her, it felt so real to see him regenerating again.  This time, though, he turned into different women and men, rapid fire, as the Doctor looked up at him. 

“No,” the Doctor stood up, stumbling back. “Stop it!  Stop it, I’ve seen enough!  Show me your true form!”

“Who are those people?” Rose asked, watching as the entity before them settled on a young version of Sarah Jane, wide brown eyes staring at the Doctor with absolute trust in them.  The Doctor grabbed onto the back of Rose’s chair for stability.

“Every single companion I’ve ever had,” he said softly.  “IT’s torturing me with them.”

“That’s Sarah Jane.’  
“Yes, that’s her when I was first traveling with her, in my fourth body,” the Doctor said softly, trying to ensure that the others wouldn’t hear him. This was a conversation specifically for Rose.  Not for anybody else.

She looked up at him.  “What-”

“You left me,” Sarah Jane’s voice filtered over to them.  “You left me to run back to Gallifrey, and you never came back.”

“I couldn’t,” The Doctor said helplessly, “Don’t you see, I  _ couldn’t!”  _

“Doctor, it’s not really her,” Rose stood, a little shakily, and grabbed the Doctor’s arm.  “It’s not her.”

“Wow, Doctor, you really are quite the womanizer, aren’t you?” Andrew said.  Rose was surprised when Arnold turned his brother and smacked him across the face.

“This isn’t about you!” Arnold shouted, “None of this is about you, don’t you get that? There’s pain here!  So stop letting your lust for a  _ married woman  _ make you act like a complete arse!  I’m embarrassed for you!  Enough!”

Even the entity, still dressed up as Sarah Jane, seemed confused by this outburst.  Then, it seemed to recover, and turned back to the Doctor.

“Oh,’ it said, “I’ve forgotten one more companion.  One you won’t fight with.”

Rose was about to question who when the entity transformed into… her.  Same outfit, same hair, same chipped nails.  Rose cried out and took a step back.  She’d seen herself in statue form, back in Rome, but this was something completely different, something that was more akin to seeing a very realistic wax figure.  Except that wax figure was looking at her with bright, alive eyes.  Eyes that she saw in the mirror every morning.

“Oh, my God!” Caroline cried out, “How is it doing that?”

Not-Rose looked at the Doctor. “You’ll never say no to me, but you’ll hurt me until it drives me away, won’t you?”  
“What?”  The Doctor furrowed his brows.  “I don’t understand-”

“I can read your thoughts,” Rose’s accent saying the words made the Doctor’s head spin.  “I can see exactly what you think of her, what you think would be best for her, and you act like you know everything! You don’t know everything, Time Lord, you just don’t!” 

“Enough!” The Doctor pulled out his sonic and pointed it at Not-Rose.  “Stop this. Just tell us what you want, why you’ve brought us here.”

“Doesn’t your little companion want to know what’s going on here? What you think?” Not-Rose asked tauntingly.

Rose opened and closed her mouth, looking between the Doctor and her clone.  What did it mean, what he thought of her?  What  _ did  _ the Doctor think of her that the entity thought it needed to bring up, and  _ why?   _ None of this was right, none of it.  She wanted to understand, though, her human curiosity digging at her and wrenching up a whole list of thoughts about the whole situation.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Rose asked, “What you think of me?”

The question was directed towards the Doctor, but Not-Rose took up the answer, saying quite firmly, “He knows you’re a lowly human, so you might as well give it up,” she snapped, “You’ll die so quickly, waste away like a forgotten animal.”  
Rose tried to keep the tears down, but it was getting very difficult. “What is it that you want?” She asked softly, her voice trembling. “Why are you trying to pit us against each other?”

“Well, in my defense, it’s not very difficult,” Not-Rose said, “The two of you have a lot of problems as it is, driving the wedge in when he’s so unsure about your relationship is just icing on a very messy cake.”

Rose felt her heart lurch.  He was done with her.  He really was. The Doctor would tell her to leave, and she would have to do it, because she respected and loved him too much to disregard what he wanted.  But she wouldn’t leave until he asked. He would have to be a man and tell her that he no longer wanted her.  

“Show us your true form,” The Doctor demanded.

“No,” the entity said, “But I can transform into something a bit less confusing for your primitive minds. Except for maybe you, Doctor.” 

Not-Rose transformed into a young man with slicked back hair and what looked to be desert clothing.  It rather reminded Rose of the Star Wars films, with the robes he was wearing.  He gestured with his hand, his brown eyes hard. “Come with me and you’ll see why we brought you down here.”

“So you were the nurse, and the little girl?” Caroline asked, “You’re everyone on this island?”

The man gave a cruel smile. “I’m not everyone,” he said, “But I was awfully tired of being lonely.”

“Where are we?” Andrew blurted out, apparently having gotten over the fact that his brother had tried to slap him into the next century.

“We are on a very different planet than you were when you were on that stupid toy boat,’ the man said, “I needed people here. There isn't’ enough, no one wants to stay here,” the man looked over his shoulder, “Especially not enough pretty young women.”

Rose had had enough. “Well I’m not gonna be anyone’s flippin’ concubine, I can tell you that much.”  
“I’m not asking you to, Rose Tyler,” the man said, “Not yet.  But you’ll find that most who come here end up settling down because there’s no way home.”

“No way home?” Rose asked softly.

“You can’t keep us here forever!” Arnold protested, “It’s inhumane!”

“I’m not doing anything wrong, and you’ll see that,” The man said over his shoulder.  “Just come with me.’  
“So what was with the whole ‘doctor’ charade?” Rose asked finally as they walked towards a large open door.  “There’s no reason for all that.”

“Yes there is,” the man turned to her, eyes snapping, “Of course there is. Your Doctor here has such a massive ego, I wanted to see if he would see me as a threat, if he would try to engage in some sort of physical altercation. He didn’t, lucky for him, or he’d be very dead, three or four times over. I run a colony of peace here, and I intend on it staying peaceful. You lot are not going to change that, and then when I’m done here, I’m going to go get everyone off of that boat.”

The Doctor furrowed his brows. “No, leave those people alone, they’re just afraid, they weren’t in on any of this.”

“They chose to get on this boat, knowing about the disappearances that silly people like to report on, as though it’s going to make a difference.  Human beings have always been stupid, Doctor, and they always will be, but of course you knew that.” He looked at Rose and smiled a little wickedly.  “I think I  _ will  _ take the fiery one with me, however. I’m certain she would make an excellent negotiator.”

“You won’t touch her,” the Doctor said, his voice low and dangerous.

“Why not?” the man asked, feigning innocence. “You won’t.”

Rose hated this vulgar attention.  She didn’t like when men looked at her that way. It just meant that someone was about to use her, and she really didn’t fancy being used by anyone. She glanced back at Andrew, who was already looking at her.  That thought made her stomach turn even more. 

This had been a horrible idea. 

The Doctor walked a little closer to Rose from then on, his footsteps in time with hers, hand brushing but not holding hers.  The man had been right, Rose supposed, he wouldn’t touch her. And why would he?  She was just a lowly human, after all.  To save him from having to make the decision to consciously not touch her, she tucked her hands into her pockets.  That didn’t stop her from hearing the little sad sigh that came from him.

They finally reached the large doors that had already been swung open, light pouring in.  The man led the way through the large opening and gestured, as though showing them some sort of grand feat.  Outside, there was hustle and bustle, quite unlike the steady quiet that had been in the beach. Rose hadn’t even been aware that there were other people, and judging by the look on the Doctor’s face, he hadn’t either.  

There was a whole village beyond the door, although it was more sophisticated than that.  It was Stepford-esque, perfect and trimmed.  Rose swallowed hard and looked back to the man.

“Why are you showing us this?” She asked softly.

Out of nowhere, guards appeared and snapped handcuffs on them, making Rose cry out with pain when her hands were wrenched from her pockets. 

“Well, I’ve got the five of you a house, and so you don’t interrupt me, you’re going to be locked in there,” he smiled a wiggled his fingers at them. “Happy housewarming.”

Rose was not sure that this could conceivably get any more confusing. Why would this man want to build a town on such an odd planet?  What was he doing?  She glanced over at the Doctor, and he shook his head with a very distinct look in his eyes.

_ We’ll talk later. _


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I............ Am a big old sinner, but not enough of a sinner to change this to mature or explicit.
> 
>  
> 
> But I'm still a sinner.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

The five of them were locked up in a big house near the edge of the town.  As a result, Rose was able to take in all of the people in the town.  There were people cheerfully milling about, waving at them as they were escorted by. There were pregnant women, even.  Rose narrowed her eyes. People were trying to procreate in  _ this?   _ Why?

She looked over to the Doctor.  HIs brows were drawn together and he stared around at everything that Rose was seeing.  The two of them knew better than to have a conversation in front of the guards that were escorting them, and the man who seemed to be running this whole thing.  She wanted to hold his hand, but she didn’t think any of that would be appropriate.  And she knew that she sort of wanted the Doctor to know that she was still a little mad at him.  She was.  His jealousy was unwarranted and she would at least be mad for a little bit.

She’d forgive him eventually, but she kind of wanted to hold onto it for another few minutes. 

They were thrown into the house unceremoniously, and one of the guards looked to Rose.  

“We will be guarding this house until you are settled in.  Don’t try to escape.”

With that, the handcuffs were removed and the door was slammed in their faces.  Rose started a little and stepped back.  

Caroline’s shoulders sagged.  “Well, let’s see what we have in here,” she said, “There must be supplies and things in here, right?”

‘Yes!” The Doctor said, clapping his hands. “Let’s take a look around, then we can decide what to do.”

Rose and Caroline headed upstairs to count bedrooms and check the bathrooms for supplies, while Caroline condemned the boys to the downstairs, telling them to start with the kitchen. 

Rose decided that perhaps she would like to be friends with Caroline once this was all over. 

After testing all the upstairs windows, it was clear that they were all locked, some of them bolted and boarded up as well.  Rose frowned. They really didn't want them to get out of this.  Their escape was going to have to be  _ very  _ premeditated, meaning they’d have to stay locked in this house for at least a couple days.  She felt her skin crawl with wanderlust just thinking about it.  She didn’t want to be forced to stay in one place, she never did.  Not since she’d traveled with the Doctor, at least. 

They found that the bathrooms were stocked with all the necessities, enough to last for at least a few weeks. Rose hoped they wouldn’t be there that long, though.  

They also counted three bathrooms, two baths, and a study (with no computer).  Caroline seemed incredibly serene about the whole thing, which was a little odd to Rose.

“Hey, are you alright?” Rose asked.  “You’re really calm.”

‘I’m trying not to get upset,” Caroline smiled, but it wobbled a little. “I’m really worried. I’ve never experienced anything like this.  At all. And I’m terrified.”

Rose walked up to the other woman and wrapped her up in a hug.  “I know,” she said, “It’s gonna be okay, though, the Doctor always has a plan, and even if he doesn’t, he’s really good at faking it.”

Caroline hugged Rose back and nodded.  “Yeah,” Caroline said softly, “I just don’t want Arnold to see me bring weak.”

“I don’t blame you,”Rose said, pulling back. “I never want to look like I don’t know something in front of the Doctor. But we can do this.”

Caroline smiled and nodded, looking a little bit more sure of herself.  Rose grinned back and walked back to the banister.

“How’s it going down there?” Rose shouted down the stairs.  

The Doctor appeared at the bottom of the stairs and peered up at her.  He ran his hand through his hair and smiled.  “Uh, well, we have  fully stocked kitchen and a really nice living room. We can… Have tea in there.”

Rose laughed.  There was nothing else for it.

An odd sort of calm settled over the whole group, as they prepared dinner and sat at the table.  Rose was a little surprised, when, as they all sat down to eat their meal, that the Doctor’s hand settled on her knee.  He looked dreadfully concerned, and she had a feeling that he just needed her comfort, so she just scooted a little closer to him. 

“Well, we’ve got just enough bedrooms for all of us,” Caroline said, “When the couples split off, and Andrew, you’ll get a room all your own.”  She turned to the Doctor. “What do you think we should do?”

The Doctor blew out his cheeks. “I think we should get some sleep.” He looked to Rose. “All of us.  And then tomorrow we’ll get together and see what we should do to escape.”

“We should be escaping now!” Andrew said, slamming his fist down on the table.

“No, we shouldn’t.  Tomorrow,’ the Doctor said decisively. “And for that little outburst, you can do the dishes.” he got to his feet. “Rose, come with me please.”

Rose smiled apologetically at Caroline and Arnold before getting up and following the Doctor up the stairs.  He had already chosen  room for them apparently, as he walked them right into one of the rooms with a big bed and two dressers. 

“What’s going on?” Rose asked, shutting the door behind them. “Do you have a plan?”  
He sat on the bed and kicked his shoes off.  He shook his head, not looking at her.   “No.”

“You don’t?” Rose furrowed her brows. “Then why did you call me up here with you?”

He wiggled his toes inside his socks and looked down at them.  “Um.  I would- I need to talk to you, about the way I’ve been acting recently.  I’ve been a bit excessive.”

“Yes, you have,’ Rose said, crossing her arms.  At least he was acknowledging it.

He wouldn't look at her.  “I’ll come up with something, really I will,” he said, “I’m just so  _ tired  _ right now.  I know we need to get of here, but the guards… I’ve been thinking since they locked us in, and I can’t think of a way to get past them.  It’s  _ frustrating.” _

Rose shifted.  “I think you’ll come up with something,” she said, “But I still don’t understand what the point is.” She tried to say it gently, since he seemed very damageable at this point.

“Come sit by me?”  
He sounded so small and broken that she was pulled to him like gravity.  She sat down, facing him, one knee bent up under her. “What’s wrong?”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’m rubbish at this,” he murmured.  

Without further preamble, he turned to face her, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her softly.

Rose felt her eyes widen in surprise.  There was no insistance behind it, no desperation, and it was so tender and gentle that she felt tears well up in her eyes.  After several, non-moving moments, he pulled back and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something.

“What’s going on?” She whispered, studying his face.

“If I tell you this, you’ll leave me.”

“No I won’t.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I know I’m never going to leave you, especially not now. You kissed me,”

He winced. “Yeah,” he said softly.  “I’ve- The reason I”ve been so angry about you and Andrew-”

“There is no me and Andrew, you know that,” she snapped.

“I love you,” he blurted out.

She blinked. “What?”

‘I love you.  And every moment I feel like I’m going to lose you, to another man or a world that you prefer, or maybe just to go back to your mum on Earth.  And I don't want to live without you, Rose.  Without being with you properly.”

His fingers were shaking against her cheeks, like it was taking all his power not to pull her up against him.

She shifted closer to him and pushed her knee into the bedding to bring her closer to him. She leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck.  His hands dropped her her waist and he shifted to be further towards the center of the bed, kissing her back furiously, like he had been waiting for years just to feel exactly this.

Rose pulled back from him with a wet noise, breathing heavily, “I can’t- hang on, no respiratory bypass.” She moved for his tie and started to remove it, before looking up into his face, asking for permission..

He was staring at her with such adoration that she practically melted. He nodded a little at her actions, his hands settled on her waist.  She pulled the silk from his neck and leaned up to his ear, one hand wrapping around the back of his neck to hold him steady against her.

“I love you,” She whispered against his ear.

That seemed to do him in.  He groaned and pushed her down lengthwise on the bed, her head hitting the pillows roughly, and kissed her again, slow and long, the desperation that wasn’t present earlier surfacing almost violently as he groaned against her.  She pushed roughly at his jacket until he removed it, returning his hands back to her waist and sliding his palms under her shirt.  

After several moments, he pulled from her mouth and bent to her neck, focusing in on sucking at the skin there.  She ran her hands up into his hair and pulled, hard.  He grunted against her skin and bit her harder, ensuring that he would leave a mark.  She smacked him on the shoulder.

“Git.”

“Why, do you want a turn?”  
She twisted her legs around his hips and threw him down onto the bed so that she was straddling him.

“Oh, yes, I think I’d like a turn,” she said, “And you are not allowed to say anything about how you think you’re too old for me or I'm too good for you, do you understand? Cause you always-”

“I won’t,” he said, almost on a gasp as he shifted underneath her, grabbing her hips and tugging her down harder on him, drawing his knees up a little.  “As long as you tell me you’re mine.”

Her heart melted a little bit.  Lord of Time and Space, and all he wanted was her.  SHe shifted against him. “I’m yours,” she said, her voice a bit breathless.  

He nodded, seeming to believe her, staring up at her and sitting up to remove her shirt.  She let him, and also let him stare at her like she had hung the stars in the sky.  

“You really love me?” he asked in awe.

She smiled. “Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” she laughed, “Why is that so hard to believe?”

He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, tucking his face into her neck.  She closed her eyes and hugged him back, feeling like he really needed her touch and love, just so he could believe it.  

She tipped her head against his. ‘I love you so much, Doctor, and I’ve loved you for a  _ very  _ long time. You must know that.”

“I wished,” he replied.  “But I never imagined.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve murdered my whole species,” he murmured against her skin, mouthing his way across the base of her neck.  “Because I don’t deserve you, even a little.”

She pressed kisses to his temple until he turned his face up to hers.  “I’ve committed genocide too,” she said, “And I love you.”

“I love you,” he smiled a little, so full of adoration that she almost felt like she could burst.  He tilted his chin up, offering himself up to her, sending pride through her body.  

She cupped his cheeks and kissed him softly, taking what he was so generously offering to her, what she never thought he’d offer.

In one motion he turned her over and pushed her down on her back, pressing his hips against hers. She slid her hands into his hair again as he moved his way down her neck again.

“So that’s why you were being so weird with Andrew? You  _ were  _ jealous!”

“Mm hmm,” he mumbled against her, shifting his hips against her.

“And that’s why you were being so rude to him?” She pushed back against him, making him grunt with the effort of trying to keep quiet.

“Shh, don’t talk about him right now, you’ll kill the mood,” He said teasingly..

She giggled and held him a little tighter as his hands touched her with absolute reverence and chills ignited over her entire body.  “Nothing could kill the mood, I’ve been waiting for you to get the mood started for like, two years,” She said, and her eyes rolled back in her head as he did something particularly brilliant with his tongue against her neck.  “Do that again.”

“If you stop talking about Andrew, sure,” he said, pressing his fingers tighter into her waist, the absence of material making the contact even more electric than it would have been otherwise.

He whispered endearments in Gallifreyan against her skin, down her collarbone, between her breasts.  She gasped and sat up, chasing him to rip his oxford off, barely bothering with the buttons.  His eyes darkened a little further. 

“Did you lock the door?” He asked, shaking the shirt off and bracing himself up on his hands above her.

“Do you really want me to get up and find out?”

‘I’d rather you never move from this bed again,” he said between kisses.  She groaned, probably a little too loudly, and he bit her bottom lip in admonishment.  

“Then how are we gonna escape?”

“I don’t need to be anywhere except right here,” he said, reaching down for her knees and pulling her legs up around his hips.  “And you still have your jeans on.”

She stretched up and bit his earlobe.  “Then take them off.”  
Oh, and he did.  And the rest of her clothes as well.


	13. Chapter 13

Rose hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep until she woke up with her head on the Doctor’s bare chest and her arms wrapped around his torso.  He was sleeping soundly, his chest heaving steadily, his heartsbeats comforting against her cheek.

She tapped against his side, looking around the room.  It was a nice room, all things considered, and upon peering around she could see that it was now dark outside.  She poked the Doctor and turned to press kisses to his chest until we woke up, inhaling deeply and running his hand up her back.

“Hi,” he said, his voice rough with sleep.  “Oh.  It’s dark.”

“Mm-hm,” She shifted up to lay her head next to his on the pillow, their arms still wrapped around each other. “Do you think they heard-”

“I would hope so,” his eyes drifted closed again. “We’re rather brilliant, after all.”

She smacked his chest. “You’re such a bloke.”

“Am I your bloke, though?” he asked, opening one eye and peering at her.

Rose giggled and tucked herself closer to him.  “Yeah,” She agreed, “You’re my bloke.”

He shut both his eyes again and kissed her temple. “I know that you’ve been thinking, I can practically hear it.”

“I want to know what we’re going to do,” Rose said softly, “You know, like, I don’t know how to get past the guards outside the house.”

He heaved a long sigh, and she could tell that he was thinking through it.  He stroked her shoulder with the tips of his fingers thoughtfully.  “I don’t know.”

“I hate when you say that.”

“Me too,” he laughed a little.  “I’d say let’s have a peek out the window, but I’m very comfortable right here.”

She smiled a little.  “Well then, I’ll get up and check in on things,” she said, kissing his cheek before rolling out of his arms to get out of the bed.  She reached for his t-shirt, which had been discarded onto the floor, and shook it out before putting it on.  

“You know, when I said I was comfortable, I meant that I was comfortable here, I meant that I was very comfortable right here with  _ you,  _ and that you should stay  _ here.”  _ He complained, but there was laughter in his voice.

She turned over her shoulder and smiled at him before walking to the window. She parted two of the blinds and looked out into the street. It was dead quiet, there were barely any lights on, and at the bottom of the steps at the front of their house, two guards were posted, standing facing the house.  Once Rose saw that, she squeaked in alarm and let the blinds snap shut. 

“What time is it?” She asked.

The Doctor thought for a moment, “Two in the morning,” he told her.  “Come back to bed.”  
She padded back over to the bed and got under the covers with him again, very happy to do so.  “The guards are looking at the house.”

“I expected as much.  What else did you see?”

“There’s no lights, no people out and about.  Looks like everyone is monitored in some fashion.  There’s no lights on either, so if anyone was about, they wouldn’t be able to see anything at all.”

The Doctor furrowed his brows.  “That’s very odd.”

“I know,” Rose said, “And this guy, that’s behind it all… If not a ghost, what is he?”

The Doctor was quiet for a few more moments, not knowing what to say or do.  “I- you have to understand, Rose, that this is something very different for me, I’ve never experienced this.”

“I know,” Rose said.

“And I don’t know everything.”

“Really?”

He wrinkled his nose at her. “Cheeky.”

“Your point, Doctor?” She asked, smiling.

“I don’t know how to tell you that I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, “I don’t believe in ghosts, you know that, but someone transforming like that, reading our minds, it feels almost-”

“Demonic?”  
‘Yes,” he whispered.  “But it can’t be that.  We’re on a different planet, it must be some kind of technology, it has to be.  I’m not sure what else to think about it, without seeing him.  And we probably won’t see him again.”

“They’re only keeping us locked up until we’re what, comfortable here?” Rose asked.  “He didn’t say when we could leave.”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor said, furrowing his brows.  “That’s a… I hadn’t really thought about it.  I suppose he wants us to accept where we are.  And we can’t look around until we’re comfortable.”

“So should we pretend that we’re all right with all this?” She asked, “Because otherwise, they won’t let us do any exploring.”

“They’ll probably still monitor us,” The Doctor told her, “Just to make sure that we’re not doing anything suspicious.”

“I’m very suspicious anyway,” Rose said sleepily.  “This has all gotten so confusing,” She said softly.  “I’m scared.”

He moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her.  “I’ll take care of you,” he said softly, “I won’t let you get hurt, no matter what happens.  I’ll always do my best to make sure that you’re alright.”

She closed her eyes and pressed her nose to his chest.  “I know,” she said, “It’s just- this is so strange, it feels supernatural.”

“It’s not,” the Doctor said, sounding very sure of himself as he said it.  Rose smiled a little and wrapped her arms tighter around him, revelling in his warmth and having him close.  He slid one hand up under the undershirt she was wearing.

“Oi,” she mumbled into his chest, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Well, now that I have permission, you might want to be expecting it every time you’re wearing a shirt. And this one is mine, I might add, so I have full rights to it anyway,” he said, “I should steal it back.”

“But you won’t.” 

He laughed a little and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Rose replied, feeling happiness swell up in her.  He hummed happily, as though he hadn’t heard it before

“We’ll figure something out in the morning,” he said to her, “I promise, we’ll do something to make this alright.”  

“I know,” Rose said, but she couldn’t stop herself from still being worried.  There was something about this, something that was unfamiliar for both of them, that made her dreadfully nervous.  When the Doctor didn’t know what was going on, she found anxiety ratcheting up inside her.

And this had been her idea. She had wanted to come to see if there was ghost activity, and now they wouldn’t be able to leave the house that they’d been imprisoned in.  They were in a load of trouble, and it was really all her fault.  All her fault.  She couldn't’ even count on two hands the number of times she had inconvenienced the Doctor or made things difficult.  She knew that he did it too, but he was a professional, so it made her upset with herself whenever it was her.  

The Doctor continued to rub her back as she started to fall asleep.  There was no need to say anything, though Rose felt the need to apologize.  Instead, she screwed her eyes shut and did her best to fall asleep.  

It was much easier when she was all wrapped up in the Doctor.

The two of them woke up in the morning wrapped up in each other even closer than they had been before.  Their legs were tangled up in each other and his nose was pressed to her hair.  

Wordlessly, he pulled back and kissed her softly.  She followed with it, rubbing her thumb over the apple of his cheek.

“Good morning,” he mumbled.  “We should get up.”

“Yes we should,” Rose agreed, and then neither of them moved for a few moments, until Rose giggled and pushed at his chest. “Come on.”  
Rose gave the Doctor his shirt back and the two of them got dressed again. The Doctor put his suit back on, but Rose pulled clothes from one of the fully stocked dressers.  She took a pink t-shirt and a pair of stretch pants before putting on her own shoes.  The Doctor came over to her and kissed her again, his hands on her waist.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back enthusiastically.  After a few moments, she pushed him off of her. “We’ll never leave the room if you do anything more,” she told him, smacking his chest.

He looked at her smugly and she blushed.  

When they went downstairs, Caroline was the only one there, preparing tea.  She looked up at them and smiled. “Good morning,” she said.  

“Good morning,” Rose replied.  “Where are the others?”

“Arnold is a late riser,” Caroline said, “And I expect that Andrew is sulking in his room still, and probably will for the rest of the day.”

Rose furrowed her brows. “Why?”

Caroline blushed and averted her eyes from them. “The two of you had a nice night.”

Rose put her head in her hands and the Doctor just laughed, surprised.  He hadn’t thought that they’d been that- well, it hardly mattered, did it?  
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed!” Caroline said, “You two were getting so tense and angry, I”m sure it was a nice catharsis.”

Rose blushed even deeper at the reminders of last night.  She looked to the Doctor, who didn’t look to be even a little bit uncomfortable. He looked at her and smiled.  Of course, he wouldn’t find anything wrong with it, he was so bloody alien. She made a mental note to be quieter next time, just in case.

“Well, Andrew knew I was married,” Rose said, trying to sound breezy and not sure if she succeeded or not.

Caroline smiled. “Well, I for one, am glad that he’s finally put in his place. It’s sad that something like this had to do it, but-” her voice trailed off, “What are we going to do?  You two are professionals, aren’t you?”  
The Doctor nodded. “The way it’s going to have to be is we’re going to have to pretend to conform,” he said, “Make them comfortable with us.  Show them that we’re not going to resist.”

“But then we are?” Caroline asked.

“That’s the plan right now,” Rose said, “I’m sure we’ll think of something more in depth,” She smiled at Caroline, “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be alright, I promise.”

Caroline gave a weak smile.  It was obvious that she was trying to remain positive, and doing a pretty good job as far as Rose was concerned.  This was her first encounter with an alien, after all, and even Rose still occasionally flipped out a bit when she saw something new.  It was only human, after all.

They all sat down for tea, and Arnold padded in in a bathrobe and pajamas and slippers.  He greeted them groggily, kissed his wife on the cheek, and sat down for tea.  Rose sat silently sipping her tea, feeling worry wash over her and trying not to let it consume her. That was all too easy to do, to let emotions rule, and she was all too good at it. She needed to be stronger now, for the Doctor, and for the people they had to protect. 

“We have to save these people,” she said softly to the Doctor as the couple across from them chatted.

“I know,” the Doctor said, “I was just thinking that. How many people do you think live here?”  
‘I don’t know,” Rose shook her head, “I can’t think of it, because we saw people yesterday, but last night it was like everybody was locked down, except they didn’t have guards.”

“Maybe they don’t need guards to be kept in line,” the Doctor said lowly, “Maybe there’s something even bigger above them. The shapeshifting man that started all of this.”

“What about him?” Rose asked, leaning a little closer to the Doctor. She noticed his tones were low and didn’t say anything about it, sensing there was a reason.  He flicked his gaze over his shoulder and she looked up, seeing a camera poised in the corner of their living room.

“I didn’t notice until we walked downstairs for tea,” he told her, “I was a bit preoccupied.  But you know what they say.”  Rose’s gaze returned to him and he tapped his nose, his mouth set in a grim line.  Rose’s heart sank.

“Big Brother is always watching.”


	14. Chapter 14

Rose held back a shudder. “How will we make the plans then?” she asked.

He shrugged, “We’ll have to pretend to be alright with everything until they see fit to let us leave our nice little house here,” he said.

Rose glanced over at Arnold and Caroline, “We have to tell them,” She whispered.

“Yeah, I’ll get word to them, don’t worry.” He reached out and grabbed her chair, scooting her closer to him so that he could wrap his arm around her back.  “Please don’t worry,” he whispered in her ear.

“I’m worrying,” she replied.

He kissed her cheek. “I know.”

The Doctor stood up and started rummaging around the house for paper. Rose decided not to draw attention to him, and turned back to Arnold and Caroline. 

“What do you think we should do today, while we’re in here?” She asked, trying to seem casual.

Caroline seemed to catch on to what she was trying to do. “We don’t have telly or anything here, do we?” She glanced into the living room to confirm her suspicions.  “No, I suppose not,” she leaned her chin in her hand. “What _can_ we do?”  
Rose shrugged, “Guess we’ll have to find something to read or something,” she said.

“You say that like you don’t like to read,” The Doctor said from the living room.  “And I know for a fact that you do.”

Rose wrinkled her nose at him. “Yeah, but… Look, we can’t just sit and read all day, we have to figure out something to do.”

As it turned out, the Doctor wrote a note to Arnold and Caroline telling them what was happening, passing it off as a funny picture.  Arnold ‘jokingly’ ripped it up into tiny, tiny pieces and threw it up into the air.  The table as a whole groaned and laughed.  Rose breathed out a sigh of relief now that everyone (save for Andrew) was in the know in the whole situation.

“Ooh!” Caroline had been upstairs, and then ran downstairs with a  small box in her hands.  “Let’s play cards.”

Rose couldn't remember the last time they’d had so much fun with a group of people.  She remembered when it had been her, Jack, and the Doctor, and found herself missing it a bit.  And she really couldn’t remember the last time she’d played cards. It had been so long since she had felt that kind of comradery, and the touches that the Doctor gave her while they were playing filled her heart near to bursting.

He touched her leg under the table, wrapped his arm around her shoulders to try and sneak a peek at her cards, and if she was really lucky, he’d brush a kiss to her hair or her cheek, as though he needed to remind himself that she was there.  

It worked well enough for her.

Unfortunately, the card playing wasn’t enough to let the people let them out, apparently.  They went to bed that night exhausted and feeling  bit defeated. As predicted, Andrew stayed in his room all day, and seemed to be wanting to stay all the way through the night without once emerging.  If he’d so much as cracked the door open, he’d done it very, very quickly.  

Rose sighed as she changed into her pajamas right in front of the wardrobe, and consequently, right in front of the Doctor.  Her limbs felt heavy and she barely knew what to do.  Her thoughts seemed to all run together and she turned to look at him once she slipped her shirt on.  

“I think we’ll like it here,” The Doctor said, searching her eyes when she turned to look at him. She could read his true intent, because she knew him.  She bit her lip and nodded a little bit.  

“You think?” She asked.

He settled his hands on her shoulders. “Yes.”

She nodded and ducked her head. “I hope so,” she whispered.  “I kind of wish-” She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“What?”

“Well, it’s awfully quiet in here without anything to do,” she said, “I’m sick of it, really.  Just a day and I’m already bored.”  
“Once we meet other people, it will be better,” the Doctor said, and she could read him very easily, could read the mask that he had over his face.  She reached up and cupped his cheek, forcing him to move his hands so that they fell to her waist instead, drawing her closer to him.  

She ran her thumb over the apple of his cheek.  “You’re sure.”

He nodded. “You’re a social creature, Rose, you need other people around.  “I know Caroline and Arnold are out friends, but you’re a human woman.  That’s normal, it’s alright.”

She stepped forward, even closer to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck.  “How do you know me so well?”  
‘Because I love you,” he bent and pressed a kiss to her lips, loving the words spoken from his mouth.  She loved that she got to hear it from him.  Loved that she got his attention and his love. 

She was going to try and keep the kiss chaste, but that didn’t seem to be what the Doctor intended, as he deepened it and slid his hands up her back, fingers curling into the fabric of her shirt.  

She let him, not wanting to let him go. She slid her fingers through his hair, liking how it felt.  He groaned against her and hauled her even tighter to him. She giggled and broke the kiss. “Hey, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” She reminded him, shaking a finger at him.

“And that’s my fault?”

“It’s literally your fault, yes,” Rose laughed, “And I’m tired.  Let’s go to bed.”

“One more kiss?”

“No! You’ll not stop!”

He poked at her sides. “No, I won’t,” he said, “Because I’ve restrained myself very nicely in front of our friends and you haven’t really rewarded me for that.”

“Who said you get a reward?” She asked, tilting her head up. 

He cocked his eyebrow at her.  “What, you think I don’t deserve it?”

She nudged her nose against his. “Then take it.”

He kissed her again, hungrily, getting as close to her as he possibly could.  

“I love you,” She said softly the moment he broke away from her.

“I love you too,” he pulled back and set his forehead against hers. “You’re right though, we should go to bed.”

‘I know,” Rose pulled all the way away from him and patted his chest.  She walked away from him and crawled into her side in the bed, trying to pretend like she wasn’t nervous about how this whole thing was going to work.  She wanted to get out of this house and solve everything. She was getting jumpy.

The Doctor turned down the covers and got into bed next to her. He scooted right over to her and tugged her up against him, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered against her ear.  Every piece of the facade was gone, and this was just the Doctor. She let her eyes flutter shut and nodded against him.  He kissed her cheek and then placed a soft kiss to her lips before pulling her closer and settling his head over hers.  He sighed deeply and Rose revelled in the feeling of being close to him.  She felt safe, even as her mind was on edge. 

She didn't feel him falling asleep, as his hand continued to stroke up and down her back, trying to be reassuring.

It was working quite well, she felt comfortable, and she tried to fall asleep.  

*********

The next few days passed in such monotony that Rose thought the Doctor might be developing a twitch.  He touched her at every opportunity, as though he needed to know that she was still there and that travelling was still an option, just not yet.

Andrew snapped at Rose all the time, now that he knew without question that she belonged to the Doctor. He was very frustrated, it seemed.  The Doctor felt his hackles rise every time Andrew dared to say something, but Rose always settled him.

“We don’t know how long we’re going to be here,” she told him, “Let’s not make any enemies.”

“He’s terrible to you,” the Doctor said, searching her eyes.

She nodded. “Oh, well,” she said. “He doesn’t like me anymore, doesn’t that make you happy?”

His eyes snapped. “I don’t want anyone to treat you poorly.”

She smiled.  “And I appreciate it.”

On one day, five days after they were initially locked in, the Doctor sat up in bed, throwing Rose off his chest.  She groaned and sat up., “What?”  She asked him, holding her hand to her head.

“I just heard the door unlock.”

“What? You heard it?” Rose’s voice lifted.  “How did you- oh, superior biology, right?” 

He grinned at her.  “Up and at ‘em, Rose Tyler, we’ve got somewhere to go!” 

“Where?”  
“Anywhere!”  
She laughed as he jumped out of bed and pulled her to her feet.  They both got dressed as quickly as possible, and the Doctor thundered down the stairs with Rose right on his heels. The others heard the noise they were making and came out, still cloudy with sleep and wearing their bathrobes.  

The Doctor threw the door open and stared out at the suburbs before them.  People were milling about, like nothing was wrong.  The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her up to the first person he saw.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor, this is Rose, we’re new here, and we want to know where you came from.”

The woman he had talked to just stared at them and smiled blankly. “I have always lived here.”

Rose furrowed her brows. “That’s not possible, didn’t you, I don’t know, live somewhere else first?  This- this island, this  _ world,  _ it’s not-”

“Stop,” The woman furrowed her brows. “We’ve all been here forever,” she said. Her face was blank, even as she spoke.  “And you have too,” she smiled and looked at their joined hands. “Look, you found your husband here, Ma’am, that’s lovely.”

Rose furrowed her brows and glanced around at everyone else that was walking the streets.  They all had the same blank expressions on their faces, like their personalities had been sucked from them.  Their eyes were classy and when they spoke, they did so with their mouths pulled into wide smiles.

The Doctor looked to the woman. “Thank you for your time.”  
“You’re welcome, sir,” the woman said pleasantly and went on her way. Rose felt a chill crawl up her back. “It really is Stepford,” she said softly.  The Doctor squeezed her hand, not having the words to say, but wanting to try and reassure her anyway.

As the woman walked away, a ghostly figure moved from behind her, taking her place in front of the Doctor, Rose, and the three others.  He looked like the man that had been shapeshifting.  Rose gasped, not having expected to see him again until they went to try to stop him, which she knew would happen, and the Doctor’s hand closed over the sonic screwdriver in his pocket.  “You lot tried to trick me,” he said, his voice sounding far away.

“Are you a spirit?” Rose blurted out, “What are you?”  
The man nodded, “I’m dead.”

“That’s not possible,” The Doctor said, mumbling to himself.

“Well, how would you describe it?” the man snapped at the Doctor.  “My body is dead, and it takes a lot for me to produce this image.”

“You weren’t translucent when we saw you the first time,” Arnold piped up.

“No, we were close to my body then,” the man said.  “Do you understand what I’m doing here?’

“No,” Rose said firmly, “Explain it.”

“Come visit my body and I’ll tell you,’ the man said. “Promise?”

The Doctor looked to Rose, who had pursed her lips and stared at the man.  She didn’t know what to say, but she knew that she wanted to find out about it.  She nodded. “Fine,” she said, “Let’s see your body. And then we’re going to stop you.”

“These people are happy,” the man said, “I am their king.  I am not alone, for  _ once,  _ I am not alone. Now, come with me.”  He turned, and Rose winced when she realized she could see straight through his head to stare at the back of his eyeballs.

The Doctor wasn’t sure about this, since they didn’t know anything about what this man was doing, but Rose was determined, and so with his hearts turning over in his chest, he followed the ghostly figure up the street and encouraged the three behind him to do the same.


	15. Chapter 15

Rose could tell that the Doctor was uncomfortable with the idea of following what she was going to continue to call ‘the ghost’.  His hand was slightly clammy in hers, something she had never experienced from him before, and she wondered what it was about this that frightened him.  He’d been in darker scrapes than this, they both had.  But especially him, and she wasn’t sure why this bothered him so profoundly.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered as they walked along.  He opened and closed his mouth, then shook his head.  

“Something about this doesn’t set right with me,” he admitted to her, “I can’t put my finger on it, but something about this is wrong.”

“Or maybe I was just right and it is a ghost?” Rose asked.

He shook his head. “I’d like to think that you  _ are  _ right, Rose, but this time I really just don’t think that you are.  I don’t believe in ghost, there’s no evidence behind it.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “I mean, I understand that, but sometimes things we don’t believe in pop up right in front of us,” she didn’t want to give him examples, but the way he stared off into space told her that he was thinking of a few. She squeezed his hand so that she could bring him back to her, and he looked down at her, brown eyes worried. 

“I’m afraid I can’t keep you safe from something that I don't’ understand,” he told her finally.  “I just can’t.”

Rose tilted her chin up. “Has it occurred to you that perhaps I’ll be the one keeping you safe?”

He smiled a little. “I can’t say it has.”

“Well, let it, because I can protect you, too. This goes both ways.”  She looked back and saw Caroline clutching Arnold’s arm, her cheek pressed to his shoulder. He was holding her hand with his, and murmuring reassurances to her as they walked behind the oblivious ghost.  It didn’t seem to be concerned with them speaking to each other, and kept staring straight ahead.

The Doctor squeezed Rose’s hand in his and neither of them said anything else until they reached their destination.

They walked into the building they had been in when they sat in the ‘waiting room’, and Rose felt her skin crawl. There was something about being here, where she had seen her first Doctor, that made her violently uncomfortable.  It hadn’t been him, after all.

As they got closer to the office that they had been brought into, the ghost became less translucent. “In here,” he said, his voice less hollow.  He turned and locked eyes with Rose, “But I think you have a great deal wrong with you.” 

Rose frowned. “Do not,” she said defensively, wanting to cross her arms but not wanting to let go of the Doctor’s hand.

“You knew a boy who was like me.  Took his pain out on others.”

Rose set her jaw. “You don’t know anything about that. Stop it.”

“No,” the ghost said softly, “It made you who you are, that anger, that pain. Don’t run from it.”  He looked to the Doctor. “You are skeptical. You don’t think a body will be in here, do you?”

“No,” The Doctor admitted, “No, I don’t think there’s anything back there but a trap.”

“Then why would I still be standing here talking to you? Wouldn’t I want to trap you?”

“I don’t know what you want,” the Doctor said breezily, “What I would like to know is why you’re trapping people here and brainwashing them.”

The ghost sighed. “My name is Aklov.  I used to love cruise ships,” he smiled wistfully, “And I would go on one every summer with my family.  I did…. Until one day I fell into the water and I drowned.  I ended up here, there was a very nice species, I don’t know who they were, but they tended to my body and set it up so I could stay alive. And then they all died, so I needed someone else to be happy with.”  He smiled at Rose.  “You are curious,” he said, “That is so very valuable.”

“A portal,” The Doctor said, realizing. “You were brought here.”

“Yes, I was, “ Aklov nodded. “And I have been entrusted to build a new colony.”

“No!” The Doctor shook his head, “No, that’s not what you were supposed to do, you were supposed to die, but these… Aliens, I suppose, that took care of you, they tried to make you live even longer.  But you were just a whisper…. This is your consciousness, you’re still alive.”

“Then why has my body not aged?” Aklov demanded.

“I don’t know,” The Doctor said, “But that’s not even the most important part. You’ve been ruining lives, do you realize that?  These people have families and you’ve ruined them.  How did you even brainwash them?”

“Their minds were not strong to begin with,” Aklov frowned, “I had to fill the houses that had been left empty by death, I couldn’t be alone,” his eyes snapped with anger that surprised Rose.  He’d seemed so calm for just a bit, like he thought he was really doing something good for the people that were here.

“Yeah, but, Aklov, they have families at home that are still really worried about them,” Rose said, drawing his attention.  “If we can help your consciousness get back in your body, will you… Will you let them go home?”  
‘You’re abusing the portal that belonged to those who saved you,” The Doctor added gently, “It was probably used for trade of some sort and not meant to be touched.”

Aklov chose to ignore the Doctor’s words. “You could fix my body?” He asked, drawing his brows together, “Do not tease me about this, I have lived for ages outside of my own body, thinking that I was dead, and you’re telling me I’m not?”  
Rose swallowed hard and looked to the Doctor. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

He nodded.

Aklov sighed, “I will show you my body, and how it looks  _ dead _ , and you will see if you can fix it,” he demanded, “If you cannot, I will torment you until you die with images of those who have hurt you.”  He balled his hands into fists, “And you will not take any of these people from here.  I need them to be happy.”

Rose was no longer scared of this man. He was afraid, and she could tell.  He was like a lost little boy, not quite knowing what to do with himself.  She chewed her bottom lip and looked to the Doctor. “What do you think?” She asked him.

“I don’t want....” The Doctor shook his head, “These people can’t stay with you, Aklov, we have to send them back through the portal, back home to where they belong.  They can’t stay with you.”

Aklov frowned, “Yes they can,” he said, “They belong to me.”

The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Why don’t we see your body first?  If we can fix you, we’ll send you home, alright?  You want to go home, don’t you?” 

Aklov’s shoulders slumped.  “I don’t…  I don’t think anybody I knew is alive. I’ve been here so long.”

The Doctor’s mouth set into a grim line. He understood that, of course he did.  “Let’s see that body of yours. In here, is it?” He pointed behind Aklov’s transparent shoulder.  He nodded and walked through the door, waiting for the rest to follow.  The Doctor looked over his shoulder to look at Caroline, Andrew, and Arnold. “The three of you alright with this? It might not be pretty,” he said, trying to be gentle about the whole thing.  

“We’ve made it this far,” Arnold said.  “I think we might be able to help you.”

The Doctor nodded, and the determined look on Caroline’s face told him all he needed to know.  Andrew’s face was stoic, but it was clear that he wouldn’t mind tagging along.  He didn’t speak to Rose or the Doctor, and the Doctor couldn’t care less.  Andrew’s opinion of him meant less than nothing.  

With a reassuring glance over at Rose, he opened up the door and walked into the room.  He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t what he saw before him.

Aklov’s body lay out on a metal table, which was elevated about four feet.  His legs and arms were strapped down, and he had sensors on his temples and across the front of his forehead.  The wires led to a computer that was spouting code that the Doctor stared at, translating it in his head as he read it.

Aklov certainly looked young, though the Doctor noted his clothing was definitely older, too old for his body.  His chest rose and fell shallowly, and the Doctor felt his mouth set into a grim line. He wasn’t dead, just in a coma, and the running code from his mind and letting an image of his body be produced so he could still sort of live a life.  The Doctor breathed out a sigh.  There was no way the aliens that saved Aklov could have known that he would abuse their portal and bring in innocent people.  

“Aklov, your body is still alive,” the Doctor said quietly, ‘You’re not dead.”

“I knew it,” The translucent form of Aklov whispered, from where he stood over his own body.  He turned to stare darkly at the Doctor. “You will fix it.”

“I’m not sure that I can,” The Doctor admitted, “But I can try.”

“If you don’t, I’ll kill your wife.”

The Doctor furrowed his brows, his attitude changing dramatically. “You will not hurt Rose,” he said darkly, tilting his head down in an attempt to look a bit more menacing.  It worked, as Rose got a look at his eyes and shivered a little. Sometimes she forgot about the Storm, and then it would come up and scare her all over again.  She swallowed hard and looked away from him, getting lost in the intensity of simply looking at him from the side.  He was intoxicating in so many ways, and that was why the Doctor made friends (and enemies) wherever he chose to go.

Aklov balled his hands into fists and looked like he was trying to contain himself. “You do not tell me what to do. You think you are so powerful because you are a Time Lord, but this is something that even you do not understand. I could have a world of power that would be a surprise to you. In fact, I do.  So it would be better if you just did as you are told.” 

The Doctor released Rose’s hand and stepped towards the apparition of the young man. “I will do my best to wake up your body,” he said, “So it can join your consciousness. But if you so much as touch Rose, or go into her memories, or do anything to threaten you, then I will kill your body and your mind with it.

That seemed to shut Aklov up and he stepped back, furrowing his brows at the man., “Then get to it.”

Rose stepped up beside the Doctor and lay a hand on his shoulder. “Can I help?”

“I’m not even sure what to do yet,” he admitted to her. “But I’d like you to stand with me, I might need your help.”  He smiled a little and she grinned back at him, squeezing his shoulder.

The Doctor approached the body and looked at the computer. It was keeping him alive, on some level, but he was breathing on his own. He pulled out his sonic and ran it over the computer, trying to determine the use of the machine.  It could be any number of medical equipment pieces, but he truly didn’t know what it was, and scanning it silently was better than just admitting that to Rose.  He checked the sonic and let out a low whistle.

“This is a very advanced piece of equipment,” he said to Rose.

“Who does it belong to?” Rose asked. 

“Well, it belongs to a species that only lives about three years.  I don’t know who they are, but that’s the gathered DNA from the prints on the machine.  For some reason, they died out here, after they saved our friend here. The probably just didn’t reproduce, but why?”

“Maybe they thought their job was to save Aklov, and they just forgot about it,” Caroline spoke up.

The Doctor offered her a smile, “That’s very possible, actually.  Many species are obsessed with their purpose. Humans, on one hand, forget to eat because of their jobs, or their significant other.  Perhaps this species simply forgot to reproduce.”

“And they left me alone,” Aklov said furiously, ‘I had to bring in my own species.”  
“Well you can hush right up, because they saved your life,” The Doctor said, arching an eyebrow.  “It would be awfully rude to speak so poorly of them.”

He went back to poking about at the computer, which made Rose wince. She looked back to Caroline, Arnold and Andrew.  Andrew sat on the floor, looking quite annoyed with the whole situation, and Caroline and Arnold stood, hands clasped. She offered them a smile and turned back to the Doctor, wanting to be as much use to him as she could be.  For the most part, that meant holding wires out of his way or pointing the sonic for him.  They worked in sync, very few words spoken between them besides the Doctor’s occasional “Could you- yeah,” since the minute he spoke she seemed to know what he wanted.

He sniffed and pulled away from the computer after twenty minutes, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, there’s a way to revive him,” He said softly to Rose, “But it’s going to cost him.  But he can’t hurt you once he’s in his physical body.”

Aklov popped up in front of them, staring at the Doctor. “I can hear you,” He said sharply.  “If you can fix me, do it.”

Rose felt her skin crawl and the Doctor looked to her.  He shrugged his shoulders and then turned to peer under the computer.  “Rose, hand me the sonic.”

She did, and he shoved it up into the underside of the computer, the buzzing of it seeming to vibrate through the whole room, and everything in the room went dark. Aklov screamed for a moment but was cut off.

"Not ghosts," Rose whispered into the darkness as she heard the body shifting on the bed.

The Doctor made a sound of agreement.  "Not ghosts."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking suggestions for my next fic that's not AU, because as per usual, I am stumped. I am open to something more fluffy and less adventure-y, but anything works:)

 

A low moan of pain emitted from the pain as what appeared to be dim emergency lights flicked on above them.  Rose clutched the Doctor’s hand painfully. “So you put his consciousness back in his head?” She asked softly.

The Doctor nodded, “Yes, but his body hasn’t been used in so long.”  His mouth was set in a grim line, “I couldn’t make him back all the way.”

“What does that mean?” Rose asked.

“Where am I?” Aklov asked, voice hoarse with disuse, and cutting off any reply that the Doctor was going to give to Rose.

“You don’t know?” Caroline asked, looking confused.  She came up next to Rose, “What’s going on?”

“Could be that he lost part of his memory, since his body wasn’t involved.  It’s not as uncommon as you’d think,” the Doctor said, “But we’ll have to test that out.”

Aklov sat up a little and reached down and touched his knees. “I can’t… I can’t move my legs,” he said, looking up at Rose and the Doctor.

“I knew there would be consequences,” the Doctor said grimly.  “Aklov, what do you remember about what happened to you?”

“I was on a cruise ship, and now I’m here,” Aklov looked at them with confusion on his face. “Why am I here? Why are you here?  Did you kidnap me?”

“Slow down,” The Doctor said, trying to sound reassuring. He turned over his shoulder. “Andrew, Arnold, why don’t you go see if you can find any water for this poor man?”

Despite any differences Andrew had had with the Doctor, he seemed to see that he was dreadfully important and should probably do as the Doctor asked.  The two men left the room, and Caroline moved to stand a little closer to Rose, as though she needed that reassurance.  Rose grinned at her, trying to be comforting.

The Doctor released Rose’s hand and squatted down by the bed. “Well,  _ you  _ kidnapped  _ us,”  _ he said gently, and reached over to tap the machine. “This nifty little computer was keeping you alive.”

Aklov furrowed his brows. “But nothing happened to me.”

“You just don’t remember,” the Doctor reassured him, “It’s hard to explain, but I’ll do the best I can. Your consciousness was outside your body, and it was very difficult for any law of the universe to hold you down. You started sucking people here through a portal, taking their memories…. Oh, blimey, I’m upsetting you.”

“Right, you are!” Aklov cried. “I can’t move my lower body and you’re telling me that I’m a kidnapper!” 

“I don’t think you meant to,” Rose said, sitting down on the bed by Aklov’s hip. “You thought you were helping.  You were lonely, that’s all,” She smiled a little, “And everybody gets a little lonely sometimes.  But you were pulling people from cruise ships to keep them here to be your friends.”

“What?” Aklov blinked. “How is that even possible?”  
“You were rescued, but at a price.”  The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to say it as delicately as possible.  “You almost died, when you yourself were on the cruise ship.  So, um, some aliens, they brought you here to take care of you, but there was something wrong with you that they couldn’t fix.” He pointed at Aklov’s legs. “You're paralyzed. The price of still being alive. Luckily, it's not your whole body.”

      “Luckily?? I can't use my legs anymore?” Aklov’s voice ratcheted up and Rose winced. She had a feeling the memory loss and his current situation was probably too much for him to bear. She reached out and took his hand. 

“I know, it’s a shock,” She said, “You’ve lost a bit of your memory.  You brought us here, you  _ trapped  _ us here.”

“Why would I do that?” Aklov demanded, his voice raising. He seemed to be completely unhinged by this knowledge.

Rose tried to stabilize him by holding his hand a little tighter. “Aklov, look at me. Breathe.”

She looked back to the Doctor and then back at Aklov.  “Hey, Doctor, is there any way to put together a sort of wheelchair so we can show Aklov around and try to get him back home?”  She looked to him, her eyes wide and pleading. Not that the Doctor would’ve said no, but he especially couldn’t have said no when she made that face.  

He nodded and rose up, kissing her on the cheek before wheeling the computer away and out of the room.  Andrew and Arnold came back in as the Doctor left and Arnold approached with a glass of water.

“Where’d you find it?” Rose asked.

“I’m not even really sure.  We just walked into this room that was like a kitchen and there was a pitcher.”

“Low level telepathic field,” she said softly, “The building knew what you were looking for.”

When Arnold just stared at her and blinked, she shrugged, “The people that lived here were aliens,” she said, taking the glass from him and turning to Aklov. “Here, drink this,” she said softly, “It’ll make you feel a little better.”  She helped him to sit up and he winced, taking the glass from her.

He drank the entire glass and handed it back to Rose, who passed it to Arnold.  “Thanks,” she said, smiling.

Arnold stepped back and Rose turned her attention back to Aklov. He looked so crestfallen that she felt like her heart was going to break.  “Aklov?  I know this is hard, but the Doctor, he saved you.  So we’ve got to get you home,” she said.

“How?” He asked weakly.

“We’re gonna have to use the portal that brought you here, if the Doctor can find it, which he will… Actually, we’re gonna have to take the whole cruise ship that we came in on through it.  Um, that’s gonna be a little difficult.”

“And I caused all this?  I brought people here to stay with my… With my  _ brain  _ ‘cause I was lonely?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah.  It’s a very human thing to be lonely,” she reassured him, “And we can fix it, so you don’t have to look so sad.  It’s not going to be as bad as you think it is right now, I promise.”

Aklov looked away from her. “Okay.”

“You’re not okay, I can see it.”

He looked at her sharply. “How would you know?”

She blinked. “I’m human, just like you, and we all  _ feel  _ things.  I’ve… There’s things in my life I don’t remember, because it’s safer for me, and it’s probably better that you don’t remember being so lonely.” she smiled a little.  “It’s going to be okay.”

“But I’m paralyzed,” he said, hitting his thigh with one hand, “I can’t walk, if I ever wanted any happiness, it’s gone now!”

Rose suddenly felt so sorry, so much sadness for the man before her.  She had been so afraid of him, and all along, he had just been so desperately lonely that he felt he needed to trap people.  “It’s not gone.  You can be happy,” She said, “This isn’t the end.”  
Caroline, who had been standing quite still and not saying much of anything, came forward and stood in front of the bed.  “I’m sorry,” she said softly, “I’m sorry this happened to you, but this isn’t the end of your life.  You could still do so many things.”

“I don’t think so,” he said, looking crestfallen. “I can’t…  I could never get married.”

“Yeah, you can!” Rose said, “You can, you just… You have to find someone.”  Rose felt like she was not helping even a little bit, but there was not much else that she could do.

Just then, the Doctor re-entered the room with what was clearly a makeshift but sturdy wheelchair.  Rose looked to him and grinned.    
“How did you do that?”  
‘I have a sonic screwdriver and there was a metal table,” he said, smiling at her. “Right, Aklov, up and at ‘em.”  
The man seemed to be a little drained, but he nodded.  Rose and the DOctor lifted him and put him into the wheelchair gently. Aklov shifted around in the wheelchair and let out a long sigh.

“This is my life now,” he said, “There’s… I can’t.”  
“It’s going to be alright, Aklov, but for now we’ve got to get everyone in the town onto the cruise ship that we came on.”

“And I caused all this?”

“Yes,” Rose said gently.  “But let’s see if before you get all concerned, okay?” She turned to the Doctor. “Hang on.”

“What?”

“Wait, everyone thought that they were here forever.  How is that going to work? They’re not going to come with us.”  Rose felt her eyes widen in fear. “We have to convince them.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t think we do,” he said.  “We reset Aklov’s mind when we woke him up. Not on purpose, not at all, but that was the only way to bring him back.  So the memories of the people in here have probably also been reset, or at least, they know now that they’re not supposed to be here.”  He smiled reassuringly at Rose.  “It’s gonna be okay, alright? I promise.”

They all shuffled out back into the town, the Doctor pushing a very glum Aklov in his wheelchair, and Rose carefully watched Aklov’s face the whole time.  The people were looking around, confused, as though they had no idea what was going on.  The Doctor stopped them and shouted out, “Alright, hello everyone!”

The people who were outside looked at the Doctor, Rose, and the others, looking dreadfully confused.  The Doctor waved at them.  He was grinning, looking quite welcoming indeed.

“We’ve got to get on the cruise ship!  Come on!” THe Doctor jerked with his head. “If you have any questions, talk to Rose.”

Rose turned to the Doctor, her face blank. “I hate you.”

He winked at her and turned the wheelchair.  Rose actually had no idea where they were, relatively, but the Doctor had an excellent sense of direction, so Rose was really inclined to follow him wherever he went, for more reasons than one.

The people seemed just confused enough to come up to Rose and start asking her questions all at once.

“Stop!” Rose shouted, as Caroline came up next to her for support. “We’re going home,” she said, “That’s all you need to know.  We’re going home.”  
“Home where?” Someone shouted.

“You were all on cruise ships on the Placaton, right?” Rose asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Yes,” a woman in the front said, “And now we’re here.”

Rose smiled a little. “Yeah, well, we ended up here too.  And now we’ve fixed everything.  We’re going back to the Placaton.  And we’re gonna finish the damn cruise.  Okay?”  
The people seemed to murmur their confused agreement.  They were definitely disoriented enough to come with them, and that was just what Rose wanted.

Caroline smiled and gestured with her hand, “Well, come on then!” She said, “We don’t have any time to waste!”  
Rose and Caroline jogged up to catch up with the others, and the rest of the people came behind, all chattering and holding onto their loved ones.

“Do you think it’ll work?” Rose asked the Doctor, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“I think so,” he said softly, “If not? Well, then we’ve got everybody contained on the boat.”

Rose looked down at Aklov and saw that his shoulders were slumped and she was staring at his hands.  Rose looked to the Doctor, who shrugged. There wasn’t a lot to say to him to make him feel better about it, and it was definitely his fault.  

Luckily for the Doctor and Rose, confusion is a great equalizer, so everyone followed them up onto the boat.  It was cramped, for certain, but they were all there, and that was enough for the Doctor.  He pushed Aklov to a corner of the boat and turned the crude handles to Rose. “I didn’t have time to put a brake on it,” he said, “Can you hold-”

“Yeah,” She said, taking the handles. 

The Doctor cupped her cheek and smiled at her. “It was a good idea, us coming here,” he told her, and she blinked in surprise. He rarely acknowledged when she did things so well. She smiled a little.

“Yeah,” she said.  

“And now,” He told her, “I’m going to get us out of here.”  He winked at Andrew over her shoulder and then kissed her deeply before darting to the front of the boat.  Caroline shook her head from where she stood next to Rose.

“Men.”  
Rose nodded.  “Yeah, but… We’re gonna go home.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I anticipate one more chapter of this, I think? I'm not sure, my muse is a brutal mistress

 

Rose wasn’t even going to begin to try to understand what the Doctor did to reopen the portal. He explained it to her, but by the way he faltered over his words, she had a feeling that he really didn’t know what he was talking about either.  He gave her a wide smile and brandished his sonic, making her roll her eyes.  Whatever he was doing, whether it was made up or not, it was probably going to work.  It was things like that that made Rose feel like several people probably thought the Doctor was magic.  She’d probably think that too, if she didn’t know any better.  

It took a little over two hours to get everyone on the boat, because people started to protest, but when the Doctor and Aklov explained what happened,,they seemed to fall silent and sullen.

“That’s right,” Rose heard one woman murmur to her husband, as though realizing something for the first time. “We have children back home.”

Rose felt her heart lurch and she reached for the Doctor’s arm, needing to hold it even as he pushed Aklov’s wheelchair.  He looked to her and gave her a little smile, his brian clearly distracted as he tried to figure the whole thing out. His eyes looked a little glassy, and she could tell that meant he was thinking.

It was a little cramped when everyone got onto the ship, but there wasn’t much that could be done about it, so Rose just stuck to the Doctor’s side as he started lighting up his sonic and pointed it into the water away from where they had crashed into the island.  Rose watched him do it, wanting him to explain it in a little more detail, but knowing that he wouldn’t. 

“We’re going to be okay,” he said mostly to himself, and then smiled a tight smile at her.  “We’re going to be okay.”

She reached up and cupped his cheek, smoothing her thumb over the crow’s feet by his eye.  “You can do it,” She said firmly. She knew she couldn’t help, not with this part of it, but she could support him, and that was good enough for her.  It would have to be.

The Doctor had passed Aklov off, and Caroline held onto the rickety wheelchair, which was going to need replacing once they got back to a normal planet.  The man still looked distressed beyond belief and had his head hanging.  Rose frowned a little.  She felt sorry for him. He didn’t know what he’d done, and what he  _ had  _ done was done out of desperation, and there was no reason for her to hold a grudge against him.  After all, she had asked to come here.

She walked to his wheelchair and squatted down in front of him. “Hi,” She said softly.

He furrowed his brows at her, “Why are you talking to me?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Polite thing to do, isn’t it?  Help someone out when they're going through a traumatic situation?”

He opened his mouth and then closed it, regarding her for a moment. “I put  _ you  _ through a traumatic situation,” he said blandly.  “All these people-”

She smiled. “I’ve had worse, traveling with that lump,” She nodded to the Doctor, “But you don’t remember, it wasn’t really you. That’s… That’s awful, and I hate that it happened to you.”  She pursed her lips. “Loo, I just want you to know that I don’t blame you, and neither does the Doctor.”

He frowned. “I blame myself,” he said, “I really do, I was horrible to all of you.”

“But you didn’t know that,” Rose furrowed her brows.”You don’t even remember it, and none of these people blame you, I promise,” she settled her hand over his, “It’s going to be alright.”

He lifted a shoulder.  “And now I can’t move my legs anymore.  I’m  _ useless.” _

“No, you’re not,” Rose said fiercely, “You’re not.  I don’t think anyone will think of you that way.”

“I’ll never be married,” he said softly, eyes avoiding hers, “No woman is ever going to want to be my wife.”

“I wish you wouldn’t say that,” Rose said softly, “I promise there is a woman out there who isn’t shallow enough to think of you as a burden.  You seem wonderful, Aklov,” Rose smiled. “It’s going to work out.  I know that for sure.”

Before the young man could respond, she heard the Doctor yell out ‘Ha!” and she squeezed his hand before going to the Doctor. Aklov offered her a smile, which told Rose that he appreciated her help if nothing else. 

Caroline took Aklov’s wheelchair back, jerking her chin to tell Rose to go back to the Doctor.  Rose smiled and thanked her quietly.

The Doctor was peering over the edge of the boat and Rose ran up next to him, peering over as well.  A red vortex swirled in the water, and Rose was reminded of the storm that had sucked them there to begin with.

“Is that the portal?” She asked, looking at the Doctor.

He nodded excitedly, “Yes!” He said, “I did it!”

“You thought you wouldn’t?” Rose asked, surprised.

“Not really, no, but you thought I did, and that’s quite enough I think.”  He leaned over and kissed her before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the steering of the boat.  “We’re going back to complete this bloody cruise circuit and go home!” he grinned widely at her and Rose laughed, shaking her head.  He really was completely mad and she knew it, and she loved it.

The Doctor started fiddling with the ship’s controls, looking quite like he was piloting the TARDIS.  He flipped a final switch and Rose was left trying to grab onto anything to hold herself up as the ship lurched.

“Sorry,” he shouted, pulling her up.  She laughed a little and cried out at the whole ship started to plunge into the portal.  The Doctor rushed her, wrapping one arm around her waist and grabbing onto a support pole with the other.

“Hang on!” he called gleefully.

“I don’t know what you think I’m doing!” Rose shouted back, holding onto him for dear life.  It felt like going down a waterslide that was far too intense for any human being to enjoy. 

Despite the Doctor’s enthusiasm, he obviously knew it was very dangerous, and his fingers dug into Rose’s side as he kept her close to him, head bent against hers in the effort to protect her.  There were shouts from the deck, as people were surprised that the whole boat was tipping.  Rose fisted her hand in the Doctor’s shirt and squeezed her eyes closed, hearing the Doctor whisper “please, please, please” over and over, as if even he was afraid that something might go wrong. 

They plunged into the red darkness, and Rose bit her lip to tried not to scream. She was terrified, her heart pounding.  She’d been in several situations that she thought she wasn’t going to get out of, but this was like nothing else. She felt her stomach drop and she wanted to throw up, but instead clenched her jaw and clutched the Doctor tighter. 

The Doctor was certain that he was leaving bruises on her waist, but he couldn’t be bothered to stop gripping at her. He knew that she would really be fine if he loosened his grip, but he wasn’t about to do that, not when they were still going down, down, down, and it didn’t seem like it was stopping anytime soon.

They fell for several minutes and then landed on water with a splash.  Since they were suddenly upright, Rose toppled over, crying out.  The Doctor fell next to her, breathing deeply.  The both of them laid there in silence as the redness passed over them, leaving only clear blue skies. 

After a moment the Doctor rolled onto his side and pulled her close, tucking his face into her neck. “We did it,” he whispered against her skin.

“Yeah,” she replied, wrapping her arms around him. “Yeah, we did it.  Let’s go and see everyone else, alright? They we can go to bed, I’m bloody exhausted.”

His fingertips drifted up and down her side and he kissed her neck.  “Hmm, how tired are you?”  
She smacked his shoulder and sat up, out of his embrace.  “Such a bloke,” she murmured, getting to her feet and putting her hand out for him to pull himself up on.  He used her hand and grinned at her.  He squeezed her hand and came with her out onto the deck.

The people on the deck were terribly shaken, understandably, and the Doctor closed his eyes, focusing in.  “We’re on Earth,” he said softly to Rose, “And we’ve popped out about a day’s journey from the dock.”

“Wow,” Rose said, “So we don’t have to wait through the rest of the cruise?” She asked.

“Nope, that’s it,” he grinned. 

She looked at all the people and bit her lip. “I think we should give up our room to some people who need it,” she said softly, “Like, go clear out our luggage and… And have these people sleep in our room.  Or, two of them at least.”

He smiled at her like she was the most radiant being in the world, which, of course, he thought she was.  “I am more in love with you every day,” he told her, and that was the most brutally honest thing he’d ever said to her.

She blushed and looked away. “It’s just being nice.”

He grinned even wider at that. “You think it’s just being nice, but it’s truly remarkable.”

The people were all shuffled into rooms, some people sleeping in the banquet hall, some bunking with other people.  It was all sorted by the time the sun went down, and the Doctor and Rose went to the pool house with Caroline, Arnold, Andrew, and Aklov.

It occurred to Rose that there were altogether too many ‘A’s in the room.  

They used towels as blankets, and everyone adjusted a pool chair for Aklov to sleep on. He was still looking a little forlorn, which made Rose dreadfully sad, but at this point there was not a lot that she could do about it.

“Goodnight, Aklov,” She said to him, trying to cheer him a bit.

“Goodnight,” He said, smiling at her a little.  His voice didn’t seem as sad, and that was enough to cheer Rose up a bit.

Rose wasn’t concerned with what anybody else was doing, but she tugged two chairs together and looked at the Doctor. She gestured to the chairs. “We sharing?” She asked, looking at him hopefully.

He nodded.  “It might be difficult to have a cuddle, but of course.”

She beamed at him and they got under the towels and laid down on the chairs.  The Doctor reached for Rose, and he rested his hand on her waist.  

“Tomorrow we go home,” She whispered sleepily, trying to snuggle closer to him.  He chuckled and scooted closer to her, pulling the towel up over her shoulder.

“Yes, we do,” he said, “I miss the TARDIS.”

“Me too.”

He reached forward and kissed her forehead. “I love you so much, my Rose.”

Happy heat bloomed in her chest and she smiled, her eyes opening a little. ‘I love you too,” she whispered, “So much, Doctor.”

He made a happy noise, as though he didn’t know that she loved him before that.

It wasn’t a comfortable place to sleep, not at all, but Rose felt safe, with the Doctor’s breath delicately touching her face as he started to fall asleep.  She’d never seen him fall asleep this fast, which told her how much of a toll this took on him as well as her.  She was so sure that this would have been less brutal than it was, but in all honesty, she scolded herself for not knowing that they could be walking into something dangerous.  It was foolish and she thought she was above that.

“I can hear your brain working,” the Doctor mumbled, half asleep.

“What?”

“Touch telepath,” he mumbled, stroking the dip in her waist with his thumb. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” She whispered.”I like it.”

He giggled a little and scooted even closer to her. “Go to sleep.”

They fell asleep wrapped up in each other, knowing that they were going to go home the next day. It was exhausting, had been dreadfully harrowing, and a good night’s rest was in order for humans and Time Lords alike.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter/epilogue. Thanks for all the love on this! I've appreciated it so much, and I'm glad you liked it! I will probably start my next fic soon but not terribly soon as I am now at college so I'm doing my best to keep up! If you subscribe to me it will keep you up to date on when I start a new piece (which I literally didn't know until recently, what a mess!)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

When they docked, the people on deck were surprised that the boat was filled far past capacity, but the Doctor and Rose didn’t feel like there was any need to explain.  She squeezed the Doctor’s hand before he took Aklov’s wheelchair and led the man from the pier.  Out of habit, Arnold, Andrew, and Caroline tagged along.  

“Where are we going?” Aklov asked as Arnold offered to carry Rose’s and his wife’s luggage.

“To get you a nice new chair,” The Doctor said cheerfully.  “Can’t have you in this rickety old thing all the time can we?” He pushed the chair a little more and drew them to a stop. He looked to Arnold and Andrew and Caroline, a soft smile on his face.  “You lot don’t have to come with us,” he said softly, “You have your own lives to get back to.”

Arnold blinked. “I’ll be honest with you, I almost forgot,” he said, laughing a little. “Saving all those people, just made me think about how much better I could be,” he looked at his wife apologetically, “But I’m sure you’re exhausted, Caroline, and you want to get home as well.”

Caroline nodded. “I want to stay and keep helping but, we’ve got people at home to take care of.”  She looked to the Doctor and Rose. “Thank you for letting us help.  You two are truly amazing.”

“We couldn’t have done it without you,” Rose said, smiling.  “Really.”  

Caroline waved them off. “Of course not, you two are absolutely brilliant, and I can’t really believe it.  I thought we were just meeting another friendly couple, but we were meeting some of the most incredible people on the planet.”

The Doctor winked, “Not just on the planet,” he said cheerfully, and Rose shook her head, rolling her eyes at him.  He could be a bit theatrical when he wanted to be, and it appeared that today he wanted to be. 

Arnold gave Rose back her luggage and hugs were exchanged. Arnold stood before Aklov and held his hand out. “It was nice to meet you,” he said, and Aklov shook his hand, a surprised look on his face. 

“Nice to meet you as well,” he said, seemingly surprised by the whole thing, really.  “Thank you for your kindness.”

Arnold nodded and once all the goodbyes were up, Andrew looked to the Doctor.

“I’m sorry,” he said curtly, “I should have been more respectful of you.  Now that I see how powerful you are.”

“It’s not about my power,” the Doctor said, shaking his head, “It’s about Rose.  it’s always about Rose.  But thank you for the apology.  You were quite rude to her too, though.”

Andrew swallowed and looked to Rose, and it was obvious that this was not his idea, perhaps Arnold’s, but not his.  He looked to Rose and bowed his head a little. “I shouldn’t have talked to you the way I did, I see that’s wrong,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “And I hope you’re happy.”

Rose raised her eyebrows.”I hope you’re happy too, Andrew, I really do.”

Within the next few minutes, it was just Rose, the Doctor, and Aklov, and the three of them walked to the nearest hospital.

“How’d you know where the hosptial was?” Rose asked him, bumping his shoulder.

“I’m a Doctor,” he shrugged.

Rose snorted.  She didn’t really believe him, had an idea that he’d probably been here before, but she didn’t want to push him, so she just watched him carefully, wanting him to tell her the truth.  

Within the hour Aklov was examined at the hospital, given fluids, and the Doctor bought him a new wheelchair, which would be brought up to the doctor’s office room.

“Where did you get this one?” The nurse asked.

“I made it,” The Doctor said proudly.

The nurse looked to Rose and she nodded.  The nurse blinked and turned to her clipboard.  “Okay,” she said, “Well, we can look up his family records, and-”

“My mum lives on this planet,” Aklov said, “We could contact her.”

“Okay, great!” The nurse said, “We’ll do that.”  She wrote down everything that Aklov told her and then left the room.  Rose sat down on one of the chairs and settled in, waiting for the nurse to return.

Aklov seemed surprised that they were staying and turned to Rose.  “You don’t have to stay here,” he said.

“Well, we’re gonna, at least till your mum gets here,” Rose said, smiling warmly at him.  “Promise.”

Aklov tried to shift in his seat, which was difficult since he was now paralyzed.  “I don’t want you to feel obligated to do anything for me,” he said, “I don’t deserve it.”

Regardless of Aklov’s protests, the Doctor and Rose stayed until his mum got there. She looked ashen, bags under her eyes. 

“I thought you were dead,” she said, “You didn’t come home, I didn’t think it was possible for you to be-” She reached forward and hugged him tightly, bursting into tears. Aklov hugged his mother back, his eyes squeezed shut.  

When Aklov’s mum pulled back from her son, she shook Rose’s hand and then the Doctor’s.  “Thank you for saving my son,” she said, “ _Thank you.”_ _  
_ Rose smiled.  “We always try to help,” 

After bidding goodbye several times over, they left, Rose’s arm through the Doctor’s.  She looked up at him with happiness in her eyes.  “So, not ghosts. I probably should’ve believed you.”

He chuckled,”Well, you’re only human.”

She rested her head on his shoulder, an awkward position to walk, but worth it to be so close to him.  He tugged her even closer against him as they walked the long trip back to the TARDIS. 

“You know, this planet is a lot like Earth,” Rose said, looking at the shops and things that they were passing.

“There’s a lot of planets that are like Earth,” he said, “But Earth was actually the original.”  
“Really? I thought you would tell me that there was one that came way before Earth.”  Rose jostled him a little and he laughed. 

“Nope,” the Doctor said, “You lot were the first planet ‘like’ Earth, but there were many planets before you.  Just… Not quite like Earth.”

That made Rose feel like she was a part of something special, though she wasn’t quite sure why. The Doctor seemed to feel what she was feeling and drew her ever closer, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.  “Nothing is quite like Earth,” he murmured, and she closed her eyes, nodding against his shoulder.  She knew what he was trying to say. 

They entered the TARDIS after a casual stroll all the way back. Rose had been a bit lost in thought, wondering if Aklov was going to be alright. She had been a little bit afraid that his mother wasn’t going to turn up, that maybe she had been dead for years while he had been missing.  For once, though, luck had been on her side, and that made Rose feel a little bit of hope for the future.

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief when they entered the ship, and Rose broke away from him to run up and hug one of the coral struts.  “I missed you,” she told the TARDIS, who hummed happily to Rose in reply.

The Doctor chuckled, “I think she missed you too,” he said, flipping a lever.  “Now, Rose Tyler, where to?”

She moved away from the coral and walked to the Doctor. She tugged him, pulling him away from the console, and wrapped her arms around his neck.  He made a happy noise and wrapped his arms around her waist.  He gave her a squeeze and Rose sighed happily, tucking her face into his neck.

“Thanks,” she said softly.

“What for?”  
“You didn’t want to come here, I know, because you didn’t believe in ghosts,” she said softly, “But we came anyway, and we did something good, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did,” The Doctor said happily, kissing her temple and pulling back from her.  He bent down to kiss her firmly, and she hummed happily against him, carding her fingers through his hair.  He pressed closer to her and curled his hands into her shirt.  They carried on like that for several moments until Rose broke away, panting for air.

“What now?” the Doctor asked, nuzzling his nose against hers. “What do you want to do now, where should we go?”  
Rose kissed him again and stepped back, reaching for his hand.  “Now, we go have tea, and we go to sleep.  And then tomorrow?”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow we do something brilliant.”

The Doctor was feeling incredibly sappy, and so said without even thinking, “Every day with you is brilliant.”

“Well I would certainly hope so, because you’re going to have me for a very long time,” she said, shaking her finger at him.

He grinned and sent them into the vortex before following her to the galley.  The TARDIS sang her song happily as her favorite people in the world disappeared to have a cup of tea.


End file.
